Daughter of Darkness
by Gaz Destiny
Summary: COMPLETE EPILOGUE ADDED Claudia Sloan Arvin Sloan's one and only daughter, working for SD-6, and working at the CIA (where she met her fiancée) as a double. after a year in England she's back...please rr...
1. The Beginning

Daughter of Darkness

**Chapter 1**: The Beginning

**By** Gaz Destiny

**Rated**: PG-13

**Spoilers**: um…I don't happen to know episode names…this takes place not long after the dinner at Sloan's house…but before the next episode where they decode the page

**Disclaimer**: the show and it's respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J.J.Abrams and are owned by ABC.

**A/N**: read and review…after that I have nothing to say right now…except Sloan and Vaughn may sound a little OOC…it's just that I don't know what Sloan would sound like towards his kid (if he had one) or what Vaughn would sound like in love…creepy concept I know…don't comment on anything I have to say in the little author's notes…it's not a genuinely safe thing to do…

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"To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see." -11:1-Hebrews (Bible)

Have you ever woken up one morning and wondered what would your life be like if you'd done everything different? I do. Every single day of my life I wonder that. I wonder if I would have been happy living in a nice little house, having a safe little job, and married to the ideal man in America. Then, I take a look around me, I think about what I go through everyday, just to stay alive, and I know deep down that I'd be miserable living the average life. I wouldn't be able to take it, not even the pampered rich life that I'd most likely have had.

My name is Claudia Sloane, and I am one of few double agents. I work for my father, Arvin Sloane, at SD-6, and I work at the CIA, where I met my fiancée. I am an Information Recovery Agent and a Classified Operations Officer for SD-6, and a double agent for the CIA. With my connections in both the CIA and SD-6, I am a very valuable person to both agencies, I know things that put me in even more danger than I'd like to be in, but that's all part of the game.

That's exactly what it is, a game. I take my time before taking my next move; I calculate the other players counter moves using everything I've been trained to know. I've been taught well by my father, though he did try to keep me out, saying that it would break both mother's and his heart, if anything ever happened to me, but he is my father, and he knew well enough that that was never enough to keep me out. 

~*~__

_  "No, I strictly forbid it, you will not join," Arvin Sloane said standing up from his seat at his desk._

_  "Give me a reason why not; I know so much, I'd be a very valuable person on your little team. I've already proven that I can do it, and I know too much to just suddenly 'forget.' I want in," his black haired daughter said in her English accent, coming from years of English boarding schools, leaning with her hands flat on his desk._

_  "I won't allow it," Arvin said once again, though much louder than the time before._

_  "Quite, you might just wake mummy, and then I'll just have to tell her everything," the girl said her face telling him that she was totally serious about joining._

~*~

I joined at fifteen, I knew almost everything about SD-6, having eavesdropped on all of father's calls, sifting through the trash in his study every night, and finally, what would probably get me in the most trouble, having followed him to  far off countries, to the places where he had "investment meetings" for the last five years.

Fifteen must sound like a young age to start the job I do. It was, but I must admit, that if I had the chance to change it, I wouldn't. I'd keep everything the same. One day I grew tired of all his lies, so I waited, waited for the perfect time to confront him. My chance came only a few days later, when he got one of his midnight calls, the ones that always woke me up and annoyed me for days. I slipped downstairs and waited outside his study till he was done. The instant he hung up, I was in there, surprising him greatly. I told him I knew everything, every truth behind everyone of his lies. I demanded to in, telling him some, most likely, fucked up lie.

~*~

_"Good bye," Arvin said before hanging up._

_Rubbing his temples he looked up from the papers on his desk, only to see his tall fifteen-year-old daughter standing in front of his desk, arms crossed, a look of complete distaste on her pale face. She seemed perfectly prepared for the moment, her large white t-shirt and baggy pajama pants straightened as if she were dressed to go somewhere, and her pure black hair pulled up into a tight pony-tale, a loose strand on either side. _

_  "You finally let your hair go natural," Arvin commented, ignoring the look on her face._

_  "Yes, I seemed to blend in better in Moscow with it dark," she retorted in a cold voice, one he had never heard before…from her…his happy bubbly daughter, the one that had been so happy to get on the cheerleading squad only a year before…or so he had thought till he went to surprise her after a pep rally weeks later, when he found out that she had quite the team days after getting on it…never getting a reason out of her for quitting. _

_"What's wrong, Dia?" he asked silently, praying in his mind that she knew nothing of SD-6, or at least stayed out of it._

_"I know everything, dear father, and don't try to deny it. I've known for five years now, and started seeing it for myself last year," Claudia said crossly as if reading his mind. "I know that SD-6 is said to be a black ops division of the CIA, while only being a part of that group of  twelve whatever, no government association, the only black being black market."_

_"And how do you know this," he asked as if she were just another agent._

_"I have my ways, and I'm tired of using them," she said simply. "I want in. I want to work for SD-6."_

_"No, you're too young," her father said shaking his head, wishing silently that she'd realize it was a big mistake._

_"That would only prove to be one of many assets, who'd really suspect a teenager of it, the innocence of childhood," she said with a laugh._

_"No, I strictly forbid it, you will not join," he said, knowing whatever reason he'd come up with, she'd come up with a counter reason._

~*~

At sixteen, I graduated from high school, having taken all the courses I needed to go on to college, which I did. Father thought that as soon as I graduated and went onto college I'd at least try and get out of SD-6, much to his displeasure, I only threw myself more into the work I was doing. For three years I went on doing extra work for SD-6, planning to go to Berkley when I was nineteen, so as to feel more comfortable around people my own age than I would at the age of sixteen around people three years older than me.

There I got to know Sydney Bristow better; before we had only seen each other when she came over to see my mom. We became friends, not close friends, but close enough that when my father came to the decision that she'd be a valuable member at SD-6 that he consulted me first. As she went through the first six to eight months in the business department of SD-6, she was surprised when I first entered, taking the 'executive' elevator to HQ.

~*~

_"What do you think of Sydney Bristow?" Arvin asked his now nineteen-year-old daughter._

_"Huh?" the now taller Claudia asked with the normal teenage sound, having never been able to drop the word replacement sounds and abbreviations over the last few years, brushing some of her waist long black hair over her shoulder so that it was hanging down nicely with the rest of her hair over the back of the metal chair across from her father's desk._

_"I want your friend, Ms. Bristow, to join SD-6, I believe that she will be useful," Arvin explained._

_"Yeah, she fits the profile, and as far as I've seen, she'd do well," Claudia said with a shrug as she propped her feet up on the edge of the desk._

_"Feet down, you act like you were never disciplined as a child," Arvin said in the typical father like way, as he slipped her high-heeled army boots off his desk._

_"Actually-," Claudia started to say, only to be cut off by a wave of her father's hand._

_"No, don't tell me, this isn't about your childhood, it's about recruitments. Here's a list of the people I want you to check out, ok?" Arvin said handing her a small list of names._

_"K," Claudia said before standing up and leaving. As she was walking through the main floor of people at computers, she read over the list in her mind, then, out loud, she whispered softly, "Noah? But he's already training…ugh…annoying that's what you are dad…making me do back up checks on my own friends."_

_***_

_"Any chance I can catch a ride up? The other elevators just filled up," Sydney asked coming to the doors of the 'executive' elevator._

_"Sorry, executives only," said the elevator operator, whose nametag said Chuck Arlington, shaking his head._

_"Any room left," Claudia's soft voice called as she came to a skidding stop from the fast paced run she had been in._

_"Miss Sloane, your father called up here five minutes ago asking if I'd seen you, say's you're over an hour late," Chuck said with a smile._

_"Yes, I know, just got caught up at the gym," Claudia said giving a weak smile. Then, as if just noticing Sydney, she said, "Oh, hey, Syd, how's your job going. I've heard that you're doing great."_

_"It's going great," Sydney said with a smile. "I didn't know you worked here."_

_"Yup, up at the top, I hear a lot of things there, too," Claudia said with a large grin, a twinkle of mischief in her eyes._

_"Miss Sloane," Chuck said almost warningly._

_"Yes, yes, sorry," Claudia said exasperatedly. With a wave, she said, "Bye, Syd, see you later."_

_With that she disappeared into the elevator, the whisper of her voice asking Chuck about his family left behind._

~*~

By twenty I was ready for long term undercover work. A few months after my birthday, I was offered this position, but I declined saying that I needed a few more years, which I was granted on the basis that I wouldn't do well if I didn't have the proper confidence in myself. No more than a month after that I was sent on a reconnaissance mission in Madrid, Spain, to retrieve one of Ramboldi's books, but it seemed that SD-6 wasn't the only agency after it. That's how I met Michael Vaughn, my fiancé.

~*~

_"Your assignment is to go to Madrid and retrieve a stolen Ramboldi book," Arvin briefed the twenty-year-olds Claudia and Sydney. _

_"I'd like to work alone," Claudia said giving Arvin a look that he was unable to decipher. "I'd feel better if my friend's life wasn't in danger, no offence to you Sydney."_

_"Dia," Arvin said warningly and worriedly at the same time, something that had been in his voice since she joined._

_"No, it'll be much easier for one person to crash rather than two, we already know that there is more than one agency after this book, they'll be sending people to crash also, making the risk only greater," Claudia explained, her English accent just as strong as it had been five years ago when she'd been explaining why she should be where she is now. "And…with my accent, I can pass for a person from the British Embassy. You know, an Englishwoman taking a long needed vacation, just happening to be invited to the event by some family friends, who's names she just so happens forget to mention."_

_"That sounds good, but Sydney's still going to go, you will need help getting out," Arvin said. "As you've said, there will be other agencies there, if you get caught by one of them, you'll need someone to help you get out."_

_"Oh alright," she answered in her most exasperated voice_

_***_

_"Syd, I'm in and mingling," Claudia whispered._

_With a light brown wig over her pure black hair, and her pure black evening gown (complete with very low collar) sparkled with gold, and a black china mask covering her face, Claudia seemed to fit in perfectly. Waltzing with no one for more than a few minutes, she soon was asked to dance by a gentleman in a white mask, to which she accepted._

_"So what is your name?" she asked softly in a light southern accent as they moved into the crowed, noting to herself that she wasn't the only one there that was six feet tall._

_"Andrew Smith," he said just as soft as a nice tempo-ed waltz started up. "Yours?"_

_"Christina Anderson," Claudia said, while at the same time listening very closely for Sydney's cue._

_"Now, C," Sydney's voice said, ringing through Claudia's head, while on the outside she looked just as she had before the cue._

_"I am very sorry, but I must be going," Claudia said breaking away from the masked man. "Good night."_

_With that she quickly disappeared into the crowed._

_"One more review of the plan, please," Michael Vaughn's voice said from behind the white mask._

_***_

_"I'm almost in guys," Michael whispered as he worked on opening a large safe in a dank basement._

_"That's good, cause I  was getting tired of waiting," Claudia said casually as she moved to lean against the wall next to the safe, her mask and wig  gone and her accent back to the original English one. "You know, you guys really are slow."_

_"Who are you?" Michael asked._

_"Hey, Syd, it seems princess girl's run into daddy's friends," Claudia said with a laugh, having said the line telling Sydney that people from the other agencies where already there._

_"Did you get the book, yet?" Sydney asked._

_"Almost, but first daddy's friends are going to have to play a little game," Claudia said in a child-like voice, meanwhile Michael had gotten the safe opened and was already grabbing the book and preparing to run. When Claudia noticed him stand up, book in hand, and get ready to run, she did a low spin kick and knocked him onto the floor, before grabbing the book and running, screaming behind her, "Haven't you heard, the Princess always wins."_

_"Not this time," Michael said chasing after her, soon catching her as she stopped in a dead end hall, where the only way out besides running towards him was to jump up fifteen feet onto a ledge that turned into a tunnel somewhere up there._

_"Aww, Syd, pretty boy here thinks I go down easy. Put the ladder down, I'm at the agreed spot," Claudia called just before a ladder came down three feet from the ground._

_"Eric, go the back way, she's going through the ledge tunnel," Michael said._

_"How'd she do that?" Eric Weiss asked, just so that he'd know what kind of person to expect._

_"Her partner threw her a ladder," Michael said before back tracking at a very fast paced run._

_Silence, that's all there was till he got outside the building._

_"Did you get her?" Michael asked as he stepped into the cool August night air._

_"Her silent partner got away with the book, but I got princess," Eric answered. "I'm at the van."_

_"Already here," Michael said opening the van door carefully, in case Claudia (whose real name he doesn't know yet, in case you forgot) was waiting to run._

_"Let me go," she screamed, kicking wildly from her spot tied to a chair._

_"Who are you?" Michael asked, already in the front swivel seat._

_"I already told you, now let me go, when daddy finds out he isn't going to be happy," Claudia screamed angrily, her English accent so strong it was positively laughable (not in a way that it sounded fake or anything)._

_"She told you her name?" Eric asked skeptically, giving Michael a 'rrreeeaaalllyyy' look._

_"I was told to mingle, look inconspicuous, so I did dance with some people, we exchanged fake names," Michael explained almost defensively._

_"Fake is right, I didn't even use the same initials, I didn't even use my alias for that fact," Claudia said with a laugh, having calmed down quite a bit._

_"Who do you work for?" Michael asked wanting to get back to the questioning._

_"You want the truth or the comp'ny line?" Claudia asked. "I'll give you the comp'ny line; at least I won't be the one getting in trouble. I work for a black ops division of the CIA, and if you don't let me out of here right now I'll be forced to use the neuron tranquilizer."_

_"There aren't any black ops divisions of the CIA," he said quietly to Eric. "At least not ones that'd be after the book, while we're here too."_

_"Oye, you're CIA boys?" Claudia said unhappily going back to her spoiled daddy's girl voice, twisting her right wrist around and around, rubbing the rope against her black opal bracelet, then, finally, she pulled her arm up slowly, snapping the then piece of rope left from the bracelet._

_Quickly she snaked her other arm out of its bounds and did a flip into the air, ramming the chair down onto Weiss._

_"Like I said, Princess always wins," She said in a cold monotone voice before jumping out of the van and running for her ride, a sleek black Ferrari._

~*~

Needless to say, we got the book, only loosing it sometime later through the faults of another agent. The next night, as I walked into my apartment, I really thought for the first time about what I was doing.  I looked at everything in the fancy penthouse apartment; I skimmed through every book and magazine, trying to avoid the question of what I should actually be doing. 

I knew SD-6 was bad, but still, I didn't do what I was supposed to do, but what was I really supposed to do, I am THE BLOODY PRINCESS.  The best there is, the one they always turned to when there was a big job, loyal to a fault. All my predecessors had gone over the same things, I knew they had, I  had talked to most of them, but they all just went on to the undercover work, knowing that it would keep them busy enough to keep their minds off of right and wrong.

After two days of no sleep, barley anything to eat, not once leaving, and not talking to anyone, I finally came to a conclusion. It would be difficult, I knew that, but I had to. 

Four full days after my encounter with Andrew Smith, as I still knew him, I walked through the front door of the Langley LA building. With my black sunglasses and long blond wig I was more or less unrecognizable; carefully I went from one building to another, instead of going straight there. I made sure no one was following me, knowing that dad had set people out to watch me, find out what was wrong, instead of just coming over himself, he'd never been able to sit down and just talk to me. Once I actually got inside I told one of the receptionists that I needed to see the head of this cell. She asked a bunch of annoying questions, I answered to the best of my ability without putting myself into danger.

~*~

_"Who are you?" the middle-aged man asked, if not for the serious of the moment Claudia would be trying not to laugh at the notion that his hair wouldn't be there much longer._

_"Claudia Sloane, also known as the Princess," Claudia said referring to her code and nickname, all emotion gone from her voice._

_"Why are you here?" he asked quickly, sounding much like an army general._

_"I am here to offer my cervices to the CIA as a double agent," Claudia said. "I work for SD-6 as an Information Recovery Agent, and a Classified Operations Officer. I am the top agent there, you will find no better."_

_"Have Weiss and Vaughn meet Miss Sloan in the conference room, please," he said holding down a button on the intercom/phone._

_***_

_"What are you doing here?" Michael asked as soon as he walked into the room and recognized her._

_"I should ask you the same thing, Smith," she answered putting extra emphasis on the name Smith._

_"It's Vaughn," Michael said. "Michael Vaughn."_

_"Well, since I know your name, you should probably have my correct name, or risk looking like a fool," Claudia said with a smirk. "I'm Claudia Sloane, more commonly known as the Princess."_

_"Here," Michael said handing her a small pack of papers, wondering too much about why she had come to say something back._

_***_

_"It seems you know a lot about SD-6," Michael assumed looking over the papers._

_"I should, Arvin Sloane, head of the LA cell of SD-6, is my father," Claudia answered. "I do have one request though."_

_"And what's that?" he asked thinking that she'd come up with some unimaginable thing._

_"That you're not my handler," she answered confidently._

_"And why is that?" he asked, more for his own personal issues than for any other reason._

_"You're too cute," she said smiling. _

_"Too cute?" he asked skeptically._

_"Yes, I'd never be able to concentrate, while working with you," she said seriously._

_Beep, beep, beep._

_"Bloody 'ell," she cursed looking at her beeper._

_It read the usual message:_

_Dad 911_

_"Got to go, daddy pages," she said using her popular spoiled daddy's girl voice._

_With that she grabbed her black leather mini-backpack and left._

~*~

Much to my happiness, Michael wasn't my handler; instead they gave the job to Eric, though I did end up spending plenty of time with Michael. One week before my twenty-second birthday, September 17th, Michael finally asked me out. We had dinner at a nice restaurant. Ending up going out several more times that week, starting a relationship that is still going on today.

Finally, September 24th, dad called me into his office. He said that _his_ bosses, whom I have heard very little of, if anything, are tired of me declining the undercover job. They demanded that I took the job at the Russian Embassy in England; it was a job that would only last one year, but already arranged that I'd take on the job as personal assistant to the Russian ambassador, a man believed to be involved in the KGB. 

~*~

_"Will you take off the blindfold now?" Claudia asked for the thousandth time from her place in the passenger seat of Vaughn's car, a black silk cloth covering her eyes, amazingly going perfectly with her tight black dress and now, after hundreds of dye jobs, finally, natural black hair._

_"No, I want you to be surprised," Michael said, receiving only a deep sigh signaling that Claudia had finally taken in that she was fighting a loosing battle. Slowly bringing the car to a stop in an empty parking space just in front of the restaurant, he said, "We're here."_

_"Do I have to wait for you, or may I get out for myself?" Claudia asked playfully._

_"Wait for me," Michael replied before getting out of the car, going around to her door, and helping her out._

_Slowly removing the blindfold, he smiled as she took in a deep breath._

_"I've been wanting to come here," she whispered as she took his arm and let him lead her in and to their table._

_***_

_"Would you like any dessert, ma'am?" the waiter asked as he picked up the plates from the rest of the meal._

_"Another cream soda, please," Claudia said with a smile._

_"Claudia," Michael said, taking her right hand, a few seconds after the waiter left._

_"Yes, Michael?" Claudia asked sweetly._

_"Claudia, will you marry me?" he asked pulling a black box out of the inside pocket of his jacket and opening it, revealing a beautiful star shaped diamond._

_"Yes, of course," Claudia said as a tear started running down her face (proving that she didn't wear mascara). "But I can't ask you to wait for me."_

_"Wait for you?" Michael asked unsure of what she was talking about._

_"This morning I got news from dad, I'm being sent to England, whether or not I want to go, his bosses are getting annoyed with me for not taking the job sooner," she whispered._

_"How long?" he asked, making sure it sounded thoughtfully, rather than like that of some guy from a soap opera. "And when?"_

_"I'm leaving a week from Saturday, I'll be gone for a year," she answered calmly, whipping the tear from her eye._

_"I'll wait," he answered._

~*~

And he did just that, one of many things that has surprised me about him over time. The Friday before I had to go my parents wanted to have a dinner for me, but Michael wanted to make me dinner, so I gently declined and had lunch with them instead, hiding the ring away. Neither of them knew that I was engaged, much less dating anyone, I had an immense fear that my father even knowing about him would put his life endanger, a fact I have come to know as 'gospel' truth.

I told Sydney during one of our little ice-cream feasts, she was happy for me, though to my pleasure did refrain from asking his name, instead going on to tell me about her boyfriend, Danny.

At this moment in time I'm starting to think I have said too much, or too little, but have in every way taken up much too much time telling my story, while at the same time leaving you at a want for more. But as dawn draws near I will stop.

~*~

_"What time is it?" Claudia asked groggily, moving a large pile of blankets off of her as sleep quickly left her. _

_"Eight o'clock," came Michael's voice from under the newly relocated pile of blankets._

_"Not too bad," she answered with a yawn, stretching her arms high above her head. "At least for me."_

_Silence, except for the moving of blankets the room was silent._

_"I have a question," she said as he moved behind her and gently wrapped his arms around her bare shoulders._

_"And what is that?" he asked, whispering in her ear._

_"What are you afraid of?" she asked looking at him over her shoulder._

_"You've asked this before."_

_"Just humor me then."_

_"I am afraid of…hmm…it's changed now…I'm afraid that I'll lose you, that you'll get caught and taken care of," was her whispered resopnce. "You?"_

_"I'm afraid that while I'm gone, you'll find someone better, someone you'd rather be with, and forget all about me."_

_"NEVER!"_

_"Are you sure?"_

_"Yes. Now lets get up, we might have enough time for a quick brunch before your flight."_

_"Alright."_

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Hey

How'd you like it? Kinda strange hun? My muses decided to play games with my mind for a while, so I thought it only good that I tourture everyone else with what the muses were showing me. ^_-

Gaz Destiny

(hey…if anyone sees a message from someone by the name of stbbb or just anyone giving random empty threats, just ignore, some friends of mine are insane, literally)

  Comments from the Wonderful Genuis that is Zak Cole (a.k.a: Insert Self-Loving Comment Here):

**  I enjoyed this story. (A/N from Gaz Destiny: there was a lot more to his little note…but that was all aimed to me…so I took that out and only left the first sentence)**


	2. To Find a Friend

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Daughter of Darkness

Chapter 2: To Find a Friend

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By Gaz Destiny

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Rated: PG-13

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Spoiler :Snowman

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Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. Hey…I don't own Sakura Japanese restaurant…it's a fast food place at the Portland mall in Maine…also, if you're from Maine… get the chicken teriyaki…it's really, really good.

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A/N: read and review…also dates may be a bit wrong…I'm doing the best I can with what I've got…hey I am doing the best I can to get the English right and everything…I'm now using the proper spelling for Sloane…also if you have 'constructive criticism' please include some kind of encouragement for me to continue…otherwise the review will be labeled as a flame and bring out lots of anger from me…and I have a large collection of anger waiting to come out…plus people may seem a little OOC cause I'm working on perfecting my 'smart person' talk…(don't tease me cause I want to talk like a smart person, you evil demon bunnies out there)…^_- **READ THIS** the italized messages below in the review replies are from my beta…**

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Also…thanks to:

Alias2002- I just started this story last Friday, and unlike everything else I've written I have no future plan for it yet…though I do have the next few chapters planned out…^_-

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ShadowGoddess- thanks…now I just have to work on keeping my head from getting too bloated with my ego… (but that will all go away when my friend reviews…first he'll tell me it's a really bad story…then at lunch he'll tell me it was actually pretty good…annoying I know)

**__**

Me, the friend? How honored I feel!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mel- see the above review answer…

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Mandy Princess- see the authors note….and the message I gave you for your little letter thingy

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Jen- thanks…I am working on fixing those errors…I'd been looking at the story for almost a week so I didn't see them…that chapter will be revised as soon as I can get the friend from ShadowGoddess's review to beta for me…(*thinkingtoself* I wonder if he'll actually do it, kinda doubt it)

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Ash- hey I just got a friend of mine to beta read for me…thanks for the offer…and don't think that this is the end…nope…not a chance…I don't really like to do one-part stories…only did it once before…and it didn't go too well…-_^

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One last thanks to: My beta_…^_- _

Am I the beta? What the hell is going on here? LTCs, yes?!

Zak- please don't stop posting your stories…ok that was my one moment of ALMOST begging…you'll never hear that again…except maybe about the next dance…we'll see…**_(^_-) _**

Wait, wait... disregard last rant. Never mind. 

As of right now, I plan to never release a fanfic again.

MOOHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA

Thanks for all my wonderful reviews, they make me feel good.

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I FEEL LOVED!

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Chapter 2

To Find a Friend

"Not everyone is meant to make a difference. But for me, it isn't an option not to help."—Spiderman (that's the best I could remember it from the commercial. I'll go in and correct it after I see the movie Friday)

**__**

Idunno, you remember the quote better than I do.

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Beep, beep, beep.

The usual: **Sloane - 911**

Sydney was just on her way home after classes, so much for a nice relaxing afternoon. Quickly she took the next exit on the freeway, arriving in the conference room in no more than ten minutes.

"Hello, Sydney," Arvin said from his seat at the head of the table as she took her seat halfway down the table.

"Hello," Sydney said noticing that only Marshall was the only other person there, tapping his fingers lightly on the table top across from her.

"Tomorrow morning, you will be on a plane to London," Sloane started calmly. "There I would like you to go to Claudia, bring her back. We've already sent several people, all of whom have come back alone. I think, because you two are friends that you may have more luck at bringing her back."

"Do you have any idea why she refuses to come back?" Sydney asked cautiously.

"No, not really, but Macalister said that she was mumbling something about someone. He never found out, who, " Sloane answered.

"Ok," Sydney replied glancing at Marshall, wondering why exactly he was there.

"Oh, hey, I'm here because…um…I searched through the stashes of gadgets, I've grabbed a couple of her favorites…to...um…" Marshall never did finish that sentence but instead went on to show Sydney the Lipstick Camera (something that Claudia had requested special for the pre-mission to the Madrid job, plus it came in a nice black colored lipstick, which Marshall did replace only hours ago so it wasn't years old), the heat sensing contacts (coming in three different colors, red, blue, and green), and the spiked high heels (coming in a nice black color with silver spike coming out of the heel when button shoelaces are activated).

"Ok," Sydney said as Marshall came to a conclusion. "Is that it?"

"Another thing, is it possible she could stay with you till I've gotten an apartment set up for her?" Arvin asked. "Emily's already offered her a place with us, and she's outright refused, she hasn't been on speaking terms with me since she left."

"Oh, yeah sure," Sydney agreed.

"That's all," Arvin said before leaving.

"He misses her," Marshall stated just after the door shut.

"And that's one of the reasons I'm bringing her back," Sydney said before taking her own leave, Marshall's gadgets tucked away in her briefcase backpack thingy.

~*~

"Hey Francie," Sydney said into the cell phone.

"Hey," came Francie's voice. "What's up?"

"Do you remember my friend Claudia?" Sydney asked pulling back onto the freeway.

"Your boss' daughter, right?" Francie asked. "Yeah, I remember her, why?"

"Well, she'll back from a year abroad, and needs a place to stay for a while," Sydney said. "Is it ok if she stays with us for a while, just until she gets a place of her own that shouldn't be that long, maybe a week or so?"

"Yeah, sure, she's pretty cool," Francie agreed.

"Ok, great, see ya later," Sydney said.

"See ya," Francie answered before hanging up.

~*~

(Brown paper bag)

My latest job isn't really a job. I'm being sent to London to bring back Sloane's daughter Claudia, one of the agency's top agents who's been on a year long undercover job at the Russian embassy. She knows about everything within this cell as well as the others.

~*~

"I was thinking about going out and getting take out for dinner, sound good?" Sydney asked as she changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"Sounds good," Francie called from the living room, where she was watching TV.

__

Ring, ring, ring…ring, ring, ring.

"Hello?" Francie answered.

"Joey's Pizza," a male voice said.

"Yeah, I'd like a large pizza, everything on it," Francie said into the phone, only getting the dial tone in response.

"Who was it?" asked Sydney as she walked into the living room.

"Someone calling for pizza," Francie answered, too fed up with the pizza calls to say anything else.

"Hey, I'm gonna go ahead and get dinner now, what do you want?" Sydney asked grabbing her jacket and keys.

"Actually, a pizza's sounding pretty good about now," Francie answered.

"Be back soon," Sydney called before running out the door.

~*~

"So, what do you have for me today?" Sydney asked walking into the caged area where she usually met Vaughn.

"Nothing much this time," he answered taking out a white envelope and handing it to her. "Just make sure that Claudia gets this."

"Ok," she said with a smile, tucking the letter away in a jacket pocket.

~*~

"Guess who decided to come by for a visit," Francie said as Sydney walked in the door carrying two large pizzas.

"Hey," Sydney said, putting the pizzas down on the kitchen island and pulling out three plates.

"See, someone doesn't mind me coming by," Will said jokingly. "So I heard Claudia's coming back."

"Yeah, actually, tomorrow I'm catching a flight to London, gonna get a little R&R," Sydney said, smiling.

"Not a business trip for once," Francie said lifting her eyebrows in false surprise.

"Nope, I'm gonna go help Claudia pack up her stuff, and catch the aforementioned R&R," Sydney answered getting herself a large slice of pizza. "I'll be gone a few days."

~*~

(Claudia POV)

Dad called today, that's the fifth time this month. He and mum really want me to come back, but I'm not so sure I can. Here I am, sitting on the balcony to the nice penthouse apartment my dad's put me up in, crying, laughing, staring blankly into the dark sky, but none of it leads to sleep or answers.

I hate dad so much right now, if it weren't for him I wouldn't be sitting here trying to decide if I should risk the pain of going home and finding out that Michael doesn't want me anymore, or if I should just disappear forever. I have enough money to do the latter, fly down to Spain, hang out around the Mediterranean. Anyways, he told me he was sending a friend of mine over, to talk to me, or basically drag me back out of here with no will of mine. 

I'm wearing my engagement ring right now, usually I keep it hiding away in my dresser, but right now I'm thinking it will help with my decision. Though I do think my decision will be a little put off with the image of myself in Michael's arms every time I close my eyes. 

What am I going to do? WHAT?

~*~

(Fly on the wall POV)

__

Knock, knock, knock.

The beautiful oak door swung open quickly, revealing a very disheveled looking Claudia, who was actually wearing her hair natural and down.

"Can I help you Kelly?" she asked with a yawn, not noticing Sydney round the corner of the small beautiful hallway from the stairs.

"Mum sent me up to see if you were alright," the nineteen-year-old said. "Says you haven't come out in near a month."

"I'm fine," Claudia said rubbing her forehead with her right hand, the star shaped diamond glinting in the light.

"That's it then," Kelly said noticing the diamond immediately. "You got someone in there?"

"NO!" Claudia practically screamed, then, turning her head slightly, she noticed Sydney. "'Ello, Syd."

"Hey, Claudia," Sydney said coming up to the door.

"Kelly, go tell your mum I'm alright, and not to send anyone else up," Claudia told the girl before beckoning Sydney inside.

As Sydney walked in, she took in the size and mess of the room. There were books everywhere, some were open to pages with pictures, others open to pages covered in text written in other languages, stacks of books stood everywhere; it was like a museum display of books. Each one was ancient, kept in good condition.

"Um…please, take a seat. Go ahead and move the books," Claudia said motioning to a beautiful white Victorian style couch with only a few books laid open on it. "I've been studying, everything, just trying to keep my mind off things."

"Wow, this is a lot of…books," Sydney said as she closed and stacked the few books on the couch.

"Yeah, I've been traveling, every weekend since I got here, I fly to different countries and buy books, get the dealers to find other books for me," Claudia said sitting on the arm of a plush blue chair. "Great way to keep one's mind off of things."

"Yeah," Sydney said as Claudia picked up the book in the chair and slipped down the arm into the seat, looking at the book curiously as if she had forgotten what it was about.

"I hate these books in old English, it's so hard to understand what they were talking about," she said with a laugh as she closed to book and gently put it on top of the pile of books on the coffee table. Then, seriously, she said, "Did my dad send you?"

"That obvious?"

"Only because he's already sent five agents this month."

"He misses you, you know that, right?"

Claudia just sat there, somewhere in thought.

"So what's this I hear about you not wanting to come back?"

"It's true. I'm just afraid."

"Claudia, _Princess_ Claudia, afraid of anything. I'm starting to think something's gone wrong with the world now."

"No, it's just, I'm afraid that he doesn't want me anymore that he's moved on and forgotten all about me."

Sydney looked at the ring that her friend had been so happy about only a year before.

"Don't worry, I'll bet he's missing you right now."

"I don't know, he promised to send me some kind of message, so that…that I'd know."

"Oh, speaking of messages, someone I know told me to give this to you," Sydney said taking the letter out of her pocket, handing it over to Claudia quickly.

Claudia ripped open the envelope and read over the letter several times, letting the message fill her mind.

__

Christina-

I'm still waiting.

-Andrew

"Thank you for getting this to me. I feel so much better," Claudia said smiling. "So when's the flight back?"

"Wow, that was quick, your dad thought it'd take a while, he even got Marshall to find a few of your favorite little gadgets," Sydney said genuinely surprised. "The plane leaves Friday morning at 10 am."

"Good," Claudia said already standing up and sorting books by subject and then language. Then, stopping suddenly and looking at Sydney, her face showing utter confusion, "Wait…What's today? And what gadgets did Marshall pick out?"

"Today is Monday," Sydney answered. "Marshall picked out the lipstick, the contacts, and the high heels."

"Aww, Marshall remembered my favorites," Claudia said with a laugh before going back to her sorting. Then, pointing to a black leather book beside Sydney, she asked, "Could you hand me that book next to you?"

"Sure, here," Sydney answered, handing the book to her, mentally noting how heavy it was for such a small book.

~*~

"Want some ice-cream?" Claudia asked from the kitchen as Sydney sat back on her knees.

"Sure," Sydney answered as she moved three old books from one pile to another, amazed at all the subjects that Claudia's books covered, the most recent section that Sydney was helping her sort out was on Ramboldi and the question that his predictions were true or false.

"Thanks for helping me sort through these," Claudia said coming in and handing Sydney a dish of vanilla ice-cream with chocolate syrup and peanut-butter cups in it. "I just don't want them to be in a jumble when I send them to mum, knowing father he'll want to take a look at my collection."

"It's alright. Hey, do you mind if I take a look at some of these when we get home?" Sydney asked turning to the coffee table behind her.

"No, of course not, so where will I be staying back in the states anyways?" Claudia asked in between bits of her own dish of ice-cream.

"Oh, you're going to be staying with Francie and me," Sydney answered.

"Father asked if I could stay with you for a while, didn't he?"

"Yeah."

"He knows how mad I am at him and didn't want to risk having me at home."

"Does he know?"

"About?" waving her ringed finger in the air.

"Yeah."

"Not a chance in bloody fuck." (A/N: my beta made me write it!!!)

"So how are you gonna tell him."

"I have no idea."

"You should do it as soon as possible."

"Yes, that probably is safest."

"Uh-huh."

"But then he'll want to meet him."

"Why wouldn't he?"

"Mum will want to do some family dinner thing."

"Have you talked to her recently?"

"Yeah, I talk to her at least once a month. Hey, she told me you and Will were over for dinner a few weeks ago."

"Yeah."

"She said that was lots of fun, maybe you and Will could come over for dinner again. It would help keep father in check."

~*~

"What's up?" Francie asked opening the door to Will.

"A lot, mind if I hide here for an hour or so?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure, but why?" she asked closing the door behind him.

"My new assistant's insane, she keeps following me, getting really creepy," Will said looking over the small stack of papers in his hand. "Won't stop asking me if I want decaf coffee, I don't even like the stuff."

"What's that about?" she asked as she went back to her seat in front of the TV, which had the five o'clock news playing over the large screen.

"You remember that thing I was researching that I wouldn't tell you anything about?" he asked taking a seat in one of the chairs.

"Yeah."

"This is more of that."

"Oh."

~*~

"Is that everything?" Claudia asked looking around the clean apartment.

"What's gonna happen to the furniture?" Sydney asked as she walked from room to room looking for anything that might have been left behind.

"It's going to be auctioned off later," Claudia answered coming out of her bedroom with two more suitcases to add to the pile of five already stacked by the door.

"Do you think they'll let you check all that luggage?" Sydney asked eyeing the black case on top of everything, knowing that there were probably several kinds of guns inside.

"Father's already arranged for me to be able to get everything on," Claudia said meaning that he'd already set it up so that the guns would go through without problem.

"Well, that's everything," Sydney said moving her small suitcase near the door as Claudia had already done with her bags.

"The driver will be here soon."

"You sure you're ready to go back?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Good."

~*~

(Claudia's POV)

Home. I'm home. When I saw Sydney, I was both happy and surprised, and mad at father for not thinking of sending a friend sooner, but that anger soon passed with the thought that he had probably taken Sydney off a chain of cases for at least a week or so.

Later, when she handed me the note, I just barley kept from screaming with joy. I'm going home to the person who loves me most in this world; I've been waiting the entire year for the moment when I see him.

When Sydney and I got to the airport, we found that a company car had been sent, taking us directly to SD-6, where father had thoughtfully gotten my car for me. I was ushered quickly into his office, while I was there Sydney hung out on the floor talking to Marshall, I think he wanted his gadgets back, but he's not getting them back till I get a chance to use them first, it's only fair. Anyways, I'm keeping the lipstick camera, I always need a camera for something, plus it's a great shade of purple on me.

Father went through all the usual pleasantries, saying how he liked how I had my hair held up by two jewel encrusted golden sticks, saying how I looked as good as always in black, and asking quickly about where I bought such a nice ring. That didn't pass, I caught him trying to ignore the fact that the ring was an engagement ring almost immediately. He was afraid that I had met someone in England and would want to go back as soon as possible, which was virtually impossible, seeing as how I was needed for a more recent string of jobs.

He went on to tell me that mum would probably want to invite him for dinner, nothing I didn't anticipate. I answered by telling him that I'd invite a couple of my friends. He knew mum would only be happier to have some of my friends there too, so he agreed.

Later I told Sydney something about having to go home and pick up a few things, and went off to inform the CIA that I'm back and ready for work.

~*~

__

Ring, ring, ring.

"Dia, can you get that?" Francie called from inside her closet, where she was looking for a certain pair of missing boots (of which I will divulge no information).

"Yeah, sure," Claudia said grabbing the phone just as Sydney stepped out of the bathroom. "'Ello?"

"Bamboo Chinese," a voice said.

"Do I even sound remotely oriental?" Claudia answered, getting the dial tone as a response. Then, with a shrug as she put the phone back on the base, she said, "I guess not."

"Who was that?" Sydney asked, doing one of the every popular spooky mysterious appearance next to Claudia, which served its purpose by spooking Claudia greatly.

"Oh, just a wrong number, someone calling for the Bamboo Chinese restaurant," Claudia said with a smile. "Reminding me how much I miss egg rolls, I never was able to find a good Chinese restaurant."

(A/N: to the tune of the Frenches commercial song I love egg rolls because they're so delicious, gotta have egg roles….thank you for taking that brief moment of insanity.)

"Does anyone else want anything?" Claudia said going into the guest room, or her room for now, and emerging with a long black leather trench coat and a set of keys.

"No thanks," Sydney said with a smile as she went into the kitchen to get herself something to eat.

"Do you want anything, Francie?" Claudia called down the hall, knowing that Francie hadn't heard her the first time.

"No thanks," Francie yelled back.

"Ok, Bye," Claudia said before leaving.

~*~

"Eric, it's so great to see you again," Claudia said giving him a quick hug.

"It's great to see you, too," Eric agreed, much calmer than her.

"Anyways," Claudia said taking on the serious demeanor that she saved just for 'the job,' and nothing else. "Down to business."

"Yes," Eric agreed also taking on a serious demeanor, though it seemed that he was much lighter when he took on a new emotion or state of mind, complete opposite of how Claudia just threw herself into the emotions. (A/N: that was so corny…or just plain stupid…I'm gonna hear about it later.)

"Here, encoded on these is everything I found out about the KGB," she said handing him two blue zip disks. "There were three others, but they went missing from my office, while I was getting a cup of coffee, some time ago. SD-6 will be sending me after those once they find out who took them."

"Right," Eric agreed taking the disks.

"Just to help who ever is doing the decoding, it's writing in Latin," Claudia said. "These days agents aren't trained to know the language, people are convinced it's dead and no one will use it. None too bright."

Before Eric could reply, Claudia started talking again.

"Could you give this to Michael? It's kind of important," Claudia said handing him a white envelope.

"Sure."

"Thanks, is there anything I should be updated on?"

"Yes, there's one more double agent for us located at the CIA."

"Hmm, I'll have to meet them sometime."

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Hey

How'd you like this chappy???

I've given the first chapter to my friend today, he'll go over it tonight, and the revised version of chapter one will be up Friday (I have photography class after school so I won't be able to get to the library to post it ^_^)

Gaz Destiny

^_-

(same message about the "friend" from last time applies)

My beta shoved a bunch of stuff throughout the story…that will not be there for you because mostly those messages were aimed at me…there person that doesn't really keep him informed much about much…


	3. Invitation to Dinner

Daughter of Darkness Chapter 3: Dinner By Gaz Destiny Rated: PG-13 Spoiler :Snowman Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. A/N: read and review.also dates may be a bit wrong.I'm doing the best I can with what I've got.hey I am doing the best I can to get the English right and everything.I'm now using the proper spelling for Sloane.also if you have 'constructive criticism' please include some kind of encouragement for me to continue.otherwise the review will be labeled as a flame and bring out lots of anger from me.and I have a large collection of anger waiting to come out.plus people may seem a little OOC cause I'm working on perfecting my 'smart person' talk.(don't tease me cause I want to talk like a smart person, you evil demon bunnies out there).^_-  
  
Also.thanks to:  
  
Mel- I like to reply to my reviewers.again.thanks for the wonderful review.I like it when people inflate my ego.^_-  
  
Thanks for all my wonderful reviews; they make me feel good.  
  
Last note: if anyone would like to revise for me.I thank you a lot.just send me an e-mail.I kind of dumped my beta so now I obviously don't have one.^_- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
"I could save the world Since the night your love saved me Maybe I can't save the world But as long as you believe Maybe I could save the world" --Bon Jovi (Save the World)  
  
"What's wrong man?" Eric asked walking into Michael's office.  
  
"Nothing actually, everything's great," Michael answered, watching Eric between his fingers. "I just can't wait to see Claudia again."  
  
"Oh, so that's what the letter was about," Eric thought aloud.  
  
"Yeah, she wants me to come over to her parents house for a family dinner," Michael said glancing at the letter once again. "Says Sloane wants to meet me, and she's been having to keep him from doing any security checks."  
  
"You going?" Eric asked, already knowing the answer.  
  
"Of course, wouldn't miss it," Michael replied quickly, his eyes once again sweeping over the letter.  
  
"I'm gonna go out and get lunch, you want anything?" Eric asked changing, quickly changing the subject at the almost sad look on his friend's face.  
  
"No, thanks," Michael answered waving him off.  
  
For a few minutes after Weiss left, Michael sat there staring at the note, reading and rereading the words over and over.  
  
Andrew-  
  
I miss you. Mum's planning a family dinner on Sunday at 7 o'clock. Father wants to meet you, I've been keeping him from doing any security checks on you so far, but I think until he meets you he's going to want to do a check on you. I'm inviting a couple of friends of mine. That should keep father with his manners. I still love you more than ever.  
  
-Christina  
  
Those last few words were what he'd been waiting a year to hear. But part of him wasn't happy, that part hadn't wanted her to wait, had wanted her to move on and be happy, although that part was much smaller than the other part.  
  
~*~  
  
"Hey, Syd," Claudia said walking into Sydney's room, where Sydney was doing her makeup. "I'm going to go ahead, do you mind?"  
  
"Oh, no," Sydney answered smiling softly. "I have to go pick up Will anyways."  
  
"Alright," Claudia said turning to leave. "Bye."  
  
"Bye," Sydney said as Claudia left the room.  
  
~*~  
  
"Hello, mum," Claudia greeted giving Emily a gentle hug, remembering how weak her mother was. "I've missed you so much."  
  
"I've missed you too, it was too bad you couldn't come back for holidays," Emily greeted back.  
  
"Yes, it was," Claudia answered taking a step back to take a good look at her mother, before giving her father a well aimed glare.  
  
"So, what friends did you invite?" he asked, wanting to avoid any chance of anger for the night.  
  
"I invited Sydney, and Will, mum told me how wonderful it was having Will over for dinner last time," Claudia said smiling her brilliant smile, just as the doorbell rang.  
  
"MICHAEL!" Claudia's voice echoed throughout the foyer as she embraced Michael in a tight hug. "I've missed you so, so, so much."  
  
"I missed you too, Claudia," Michael replied, holding her tighter, slightly burying his face in her long hair.  
  
Arvin chose that moment to 'politely' pull of a fake cough, earning himself a well deserved elbowing from Emily.  
  
"Oh, yes, sorry," Claudia apologized, grinning madly and trying to keep from laughing from all the happiness bubbling up inside. "Mum, dad, this is Michael Vaughn, my fiancée. Michael, these are my parents."  
  
"It's nice to finally meet you, Michael," Arvin said holding out a hand for Michael to shake (A/N: I didn't write that right did I???), completely taken aback that Claudia had called him 'dad,' something she normally would never have thought of doing.  
  
"It's nice to meet you too, Mr. Sloane," Michael answered shaking Arvin's hand.  
  
"Arvin, please," he said in a kindly old guy voice, which prompted raised eyebrows from Claudia.  
  
"So-," Claudia started, and she was saved by the doorbell.  
  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%  
  
Short I know, but I'm having a really, really, really hard time writing this, mostly cause I forgot the plot line I was going to use.oh, well.here's to hoping I remember it.(^_-)  
  
Gaz Destiny 


	4. First Date

**Daughter of Darkness**

**Chapter 4: First Date**

**By** Gaz Destiny

**Rated**: PG-13

**Spoiler: **Snowman

**Disclaimer**: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. I also don't own Blink 182 or their songs, I have their CDs but that's all.

Little note about time line: I messed up somewhere with my timeline, so I'm just gonna go along with what I have, um with one of the songs later on, I know it didn't come out till 2001, but let's just say it's been around longer.

*****READ VERY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE***:** everyone…hold on…do read this…it is important…Alina Moonling this was more inspired by your review…thanks for the help…it's actually helped me redo the not so good future of this story. I'm pretty sure I wrote in chapter 1 that Claudia was fifteen when she confronted her father, if not, I'm telling you now, also that and like ONE other time were the only times she followed him. Normally I wouldn't have used something that didn't really work so well in a story to get it to work the way I want it to, but I believe even you guys understand that there's no way in **HELL** that Sloane would let his daughter join, especially bringing her in himself. That's the only reason I did it the way I did, otherwise I might have ended up doing something much more stupid. I try not to insert author's notes throughout the story, actually half of those were to my _former_ Beta (finally got a new one, will soon be revising all chapters out so far), the other half were just me getting bored just typing up my story written stuff that I did in class.

I'm not following the plot, if it sounds like that, please run, don't walk, to the nearest psychologist, though some new characters from Season 2, like Sydney's mom and Sark (though he was new in S1 rather than S2, he's used more in S2), they'll be used in future chapters. If any of you have a problem with me being very specific about what things look like, I'm sorry, but I have a thing, where I've got this very specific way everything looks, and there will be a bunch of times that I want you to see that too. I try not to do it all the time, but sometimes I can't help it. Also, with the way Claudia walked into CIA, 1) Sydney didn't wear a wig, her hair was dyed, 2) THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY WAYS TO WALK INTO A PLACE THAT YOU DON'T WANT TO BE CAUGHT WALKING INTO, otherwise, I would have used something else.

I've got my plot all set out in my mind. There'll be angst, happiness, death, lots of torturey fun, and BIG differences/changes. Claudia's impact is a major one, though her place in the past year has had to be very small and unknown about seeing as she was NEVER in the show, but I mean, she's already made a big impact, as in without her giving Sloane a recommendation for Sydney, there could have been little to no chance that he'd take her on (in my story that is).

So far I know she's not really all that realistic, I see that myself plain and simple, but there's much more to her than you've seen so far, there are twists that not many people would expect (except my friend Ripping Them Down—my new beta—cause I've already told her). About her finding out about SD-6, think project Christmas, just carried out longer on her than Sydney, since Sloane was at one time farther in the CIA than Jack. Another think that went to finding out about SD-6 was the amount of time she and Arvin once spent together, even Emily was able to find out, and my theory is that she knew for a while before she said anything.

As to Arvin and his missing backbone, he has it; he's just doing things behind her back. Plus if she knew many of the things he did behind her back that affected her life, he knows that she has way more than enough information to go to the CIA with and take SD-6 down in a second, he just doesn't know that she's been to them already, more on that at the end of this chapter.

Finally, I know I've bored you long enough already, so far there really doesn't seem to be much conflict at all, all I'm doing right now is setting the scene, another chapter or two and you'll really see where I'm going with this.

Review reply time (too many happy bunnies are laughing at my story—not you guys, it's all in my head):

**Auroraskies37: thanks a bunch, but that's only one of my smaller twists, I haven't gotten to the major bit of the plot yet.**

**Alina Moonling: read my author's note, I pretty much address everything you said, and I know so far she's unrealistic, but we really haven't gotten into her mind yet, so far we've only skimmed the outer layer.**

**Syd: My head's going to explode with reviews like that, please, go on, my room needs a new coat of paint anyways.**

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

_In the car I just can't wait_

_To pick you up on our very first date_

_Is it cool if I hold your hand?_

_Is it wrong if I think it's lame to dance?_

_Do you like my stupid hair?_

_Would you guess I didn't know what to wear?_

_I'm just scared of what you think_

_You make me nervous so I really can't eat._

_--Blink 182 (First Date)_

~few years ago (don't ask for a timeline, I'm really not sure, I kinda messed that up somewhere along the way)~

"Um…excuse me?" a familiar voice said, tapping Michael on the shoulder as he left his law class.

"Yeah?" he asked turning around, not realizing it was Claudia until after he'd turned around, her accent being gone didn't help him know it was her, and apparently she hadn't known it was him either.

"You don't happen to have last week's notes do you?" she continued after a chain of curses under her breath, 'Fuckin' hell! Fuck fuck fuckin' hell!' and such.

"Um, yeah," he answered, both were pretending they'd never met.

"Mind if I borrow them, I missed class last week. I can get them back to you by tomorrow, I have a cultural studies class tomorrow morning, so I can give them back then," she told him quickly.

"Sure, I'll be here tomorrow morning anyways," he answered, handing her the aforementioned notes.

"Thanks, by the way, I'm Claudia," she said, as though they'd never met, holding out a hand.

"Michael," he told her, shaking her outstretched hand.

"I've gotta go now. See ya," she said, seeing someone over his shoulder.

"There you are, Dia," Sydney said as Claudia joined her, not to far from where Michael was still standing. "We're gonna be late meeting the guys."

"They won't mind," Claudia laughed as they walked on.

***

"Who was that guy you were talking to yesterday?" Sydney asked over the loud music of the club.

"Just some guy from my law class, I borrowed last week's notes from him," Claudia answered, taking another sip of her drink.

"He looked kinda cute," Sydney said, her tone indicating that she thought Claudia should give up her whole 'I like being single, so fuck off' thing.

"Ya think so? You could go after him, but I don't think Danny would like it, I mean you guys just started going out," she said, her eyes twinkling.

"So, how's school going?" Sydney asked, already bored with the previous topic.

"They wanna kick me out, I'm barely ever there, what with work an' all," Claudia laughed. "How 'bout you?"

***

"Hey, guys, I'll be right back," Michael said standing up from the table, where his friends were sitting, leaving his beer with them, not really caring that they were trying to drink them selves into a stupor and would probably down it almost immediately after he was gone.

_Hanging out behind the club on the weekend_

_Acting stupid, getting drunk with my best friends._

_I couldn't wait for the summer and the Warped Tour._

_I remember it's the first time that I saw her...there._

He easily made his way over to Claudia, who was sitting at a small table across the club, alone, Sydney had left a little bit before.

"Hey," he greeted, with a smile, the alcohol in his system helping to make it a bigger smile than his usual tight small one.

"Hey," she answered, returning his smile.

_She's getting kicked out of school because she's failing._

_I'm kind of nervous 'cause I think all her friends hate me._

_She's the one, she'll always be there_

_She took my hand and that made it I swear._

_Because I fell in love with the girl at the rock show._

_She said 'what' and I told her that I didn't know._

_She's so cool, I'm gonna sneak in through her window._

_Everything's better when she's around,_

_I can't wait 'til her parents go out of town._

_I fell in love with the girl at the rock show._

"This is so cool," Claudia yelled over the music.

On stage Blink 182 was playing their song 'The Rock Show,' and Claudia was thoroughly enjoying the concert. Michael watched her dancing to the music; he'd have to remember to thank Eric for the tickets in the morning. It was their third date that week; the first one had been a nice dinner and the second a movie and coffee. He smiled as he watched her.

"What?" she asked, smiling back at him.

"Nothing," he answered pulling her into a hug.

She rapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.

_When we said we were gonna move to Vegas_

_I remember the look her mother gave us_

_Seventeen without a purpose or direction_

_We don't owe anyone a fucking explanation._

_I feel in love with the girl at the rock show_

_She said 'what' and I told her that I didn't know_

_She's so cool, gonna sneak in through her window._

_Everything is better when she's around,_

_I can't wait 'til her parents go out of town._

_I fell in love with the girl at the rock show._

"What, no elevator guy?" he asked, as they entered the elevator in her apartment building.

"Nope, he goes off duty at ten," she smiled kissing him again.

_Black and white picture of her on my wall_

_I waited for her call_

_She always kept me waiting._

_And if I ever got another chance_

_I'd still ask her to dance._

_Because she kept me waiting_

_I fell in love with the girl at the rock show._

_She said 'what' and I told her that I didn't know_

_She's so cool, gonna sneak in through her window._

_Everything is better when she's around,_

_I can't wait 'til her parents go out of town._

_I fell in love with the girl at the rock show._

_With the girl at the rock show_

_With the girl at the rock show_

_I'll never forget tonight_

_With the girl at the rock show_

_I'll never forget tonight_

_With the girl at the rock show_

_I'll never forget tonight_

_With the girl at the rock show_

_I'll never forget tonight_

**Ring, Ring.**

"Hello?" Claudia answered the phone groggily, pulling herself out of Michael's arms to get to the phone. "Dad?...Oh, work, right...I have class in an hour, I was up all night cramming for a test...I know, I know, I was supposed to come in before class...yes, I just woke up...I'll come in after class..._promise!"_

She paused for a minute as her father said something.

"I don't have class today?" she asked slightly confused. "Then why are you bugging me at, ugh, nine in the morning, you know, I could have sworn I had class today...today's Saturday, well then, that explains some of it, so why are you bugging me?...Oh! Breakfast, forgot about that, hey, can you put mom on the phone, thanks."

Another pause as she waited for him to hand off the phone.

"Hey, mom," she said sounding almost cheerful. "Sorry 'bout that...yep, that's it. Hey, could you do me a favor?...Next time dad decides to call me this early in the morning, could you stop him…preferably with death...thanks...I'll call you later...bye."

She hung up the phone and rolled over to face him.

"I swear, the man's completely nuts," she said, rolling her eyes.

"I fully agree," Michael told her, wrapping his arms around her again. 

~_~

End A/N: I was gong to keep gong, but I'm really not feeling good this week, so I think six pages is good enough, though I am going to get the next chapter up asap, which means we'll all get to see Sydney and Michael's reactions really soon…I love cliffies…

Gazzy D. (the nutso fangurl)


	5. Not a Damsel in Destress

**Daughter ****of **Darkness****

**Chapter 4: **Not a Damsel in Distress ****

**By Gaz Destiny**

**Rated: PG-13**

**Spoiler: Snowman**

**Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. 32 Flavors belongs to Ani DiFranco, I would love to be able to sing like her, but alas, I have a profound American way of singing, oh well. Amazing thing is I just found this song like two days ago, an hour or two before I posted the last chapter.**

**A/N: Hey look…no reviews…oh well…this story has already had it's one year birthday and there are only four chapters out, luckily I'm planning this to be a nice long story and I hope to be on the already planned Sequel by it's second birthday, if I ever make it there, I'm gonna take it down, revise it, and hold out on people for the reviews I'm not getting now. Also, I'm giving myself a deadline now, starting next Monday, and every Monday henceforth (except for every now and then when I might update early or a day late, that might happen) I plan on posting another chapter, so if you actually care about this story, tell me I like to know, and check back on Mondays.**

_I am not an angry girl_

_But it seems like I've got everyone fooled_

_Every time I say something they find hard to hear_

_They chalk it up to my anger_

_And never to their own fear_

_Imagine you're a girl_

_Just trying to finally come clean_

_Knowing full well they'd prefer you dirty and smiling_

_And I am sorry_

_But I am not a maiden fair_

_And I am not a kitten stuck up a tree somewhere_

_And generally my generation_

_Wouldn't be caught dead working for the man_

_And generally I agree with them_

_Trouble is you gotta have yourself an alternate plan_

_And I have earned my disillusions_

_I have been working all of my life_

_And I am a patriot_

_I have been fighting the good fight_

--Ani DiFranco (Not a Pretty Girl)

Emily went and got the door, pushing Claudia and Michael off into the living room, so that they could talk, though that was kept to mostly just them smiling back and forth by Arvin's presence. A moment later she joined the three in the living room with Sydney and Will in tow.

"There you are Syd, I was starting to think you got lost," Claudia said with a smile, having already dropped the accent before Michael even came in, relieved by the break in the tension.

"Traffic was terrible," Sydney told her as she and Will joined Claudia and Michael. "Claudia, you met Will before, right?"

Sydney looked at Michael, and saw that he was as shocked as she was, though the look passed immediately as did her own.

"Yeah, ice-cream binge, a few years back," Claudia nodded, completely clueless.

"I remember, you were in between hair colors that weekend," Will remembered.

"Oh, yeah, unfortunately, that was one of the worst times to meet me, a blond in oversized sweats, not an uncommon thing at the time, I still trying to figure out what phase I was going through," she laughed. Then, slipping her arm through Michael's, she introduced him, not yet knowing that he and Sydney already knew each other, "Sydney, Will, this is my fiancé, Michael. Michael, this is Sydney, and Will."

Everyone shook hands, Michael and Sydney played the parts of complete strangers perfectly, and soon they were all talking about a movie that had come out earlier that year.

~*~

"So, Michael, what do you do?" Sloan asked halfway through dinner.

Claudia stopped mid bight, paused, waiting to see what how Michael would answer. She didn't doubt that her father knew already that Michael was CIA; he'd gotten a call just after dinner started. Both he and she knew that Emily didn't like them taking phone calls during dinner, she didn't say anything, but she wasn't happy when they did, so they didn't, unless it was important. When he came back, he had this look in his eyes like he knew something, something he wasn't about to tell, his explanation for the phone call was a bank manager.

"Lately I've been doing work with the Justice Department, usually I work for the State Department, but they've had me bouncing back and forth for the last couple of years," he answered, before taking another bite of his Eggplant Parmesan.

~*~

"Thank you, dinner was wonderful," Will told Emily, as everyone was leaving.

"Thank you again, Emily," Sydney smiled, hugging the older woman.

Once Sydney and Will had said their final goodbyes and left, Claudia hugged her parts again, and she and Michael said goodbye.

"I missed you so much," Claudia said; her voice was muffled by Michael's jacket, as they stood between their cars saying goodbye.

"I missed you too," he said, tilting her head up with his hand.

He caught her lips with his, as he pulled her closer. His tongue ran over her lips, and hers parted, and soon all passion had taken over.

"I'll see you tomorrow at lunch," she said, smiling softly, when they finally stopped to breath.

"Yeah, lunch," he nodded, as she pulled her keys out of her coat pocket and unlocked her car door. Grabbing her arm, he pulled her back, kissed her lightly, and whispered, "I love you."

"I love you too," she told him, giving him one last hug.

~*~

A week came and went, and soon Claudia was moving into her own cozy, two bedroom, one and a half bath, with kitchen and living room, apartment on the tenth floor of a nice building not far from the business section of town. She and Michael had spent as much time together as possible, and the only work she'd done at SD-6 was nice normal desk work, which she had no problem at all with. 

~*~

"So, what do you want to do tonight?" Michael asked, as they looked out on LA from the balcony of Claudia's new apartment.

"Oh, well, I know what I'm doing tonight, I just need someone to do it with," she smiled.

"And what is that?" he questioned, rising to her game.

"I was going to go dancing, there's a new club, not too far a way, I was thinking of walking down, and—I don't know—have some fun," she told him, talking as though she had no idea who she would ever go with.

"Hmm, sounds good," he whispered, kissing her neck lightly, getting a soft moan from the feathery kisses. "Mind if I come along?"

"Oh no, I insist on it," she replied, before bringing her lips to meet his.

~*~

"That was fun," Claudia smiled as they walked back to her apartment, sometime after midnight.

"Yeah, we probably should have gotten a taxi home though," he agreed, taking her hand in his.

"Oh, come on, this is fun too," she pouted playfully, as they walked past an especially dark alley.

There were footsteps behind them, and someone came out in front of them. He was wearing a white mask and holding a small handgun. They glanced behind them; there was another guy, a bit taller than the first, also wearing a mask and carrying a gun. A silent agreement passed between the two, and they instantly went into action.

Claudia sent a roundhouse at the guy in front of them, knocking the gun out of his hand, a kick to the head and he was out cold, thanking God she'd worn her pants and boots instead of her skirt and heeled sandals like she'd planned. These guys were amateurs. She checked the gun, no bullets; they'd been relying on the fear. She turned to Michael and saw him already looking at the other man's gun.

"These guns are too nice for muggers, expensive, harder to come by, there are cheaper that are just as good," he told her.

She nodded in agreement, leaving what they were both thinking unspoken, set up.

"Let's go call a taxi," he said, as she linked her arm through his.

"Definitely," she agreed.

************

A/N: I realized there hasn't been enough action, plus, a whole week wouldn't have gone by without something happening. I actually don't think this story will go on that much longer, probably about 5-7 more chapters and I might be done, then again, I'm not really sure. Please, don't forget to review, I need ego boosters.


	6. The Phoenix and the Turtle

**Daughter ****of **Darkness****

**Chapter 5: The ****Phoenix**** and the Turtle**

**By Gaz Destiny**

**Rated: PG-13**

**Spoiler: Snowman**

**Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. The Phoenix and the Turtle is a poem from Shakespeare, not me, but if anyone knows where I can find him (alive that is), tell me, he has a meeting with my fist in a few days (I have to read Romeo and Juliet in my English class).**

**A/N**: oops…I missed my deadline…oh well…it's not like anyone's reading this anyways…um…I've actually got the sequel all planned out…the first chapter's almost done…that's bad I know…doing a sequel before the first one's even done…but it's been taking over my brain this weekend so that's what I've been writing…Oh…one more thing, yes, I am so pathetic that I have to take my chapter title from Shakespeare.

_"Here the anthem doth commence:  
Love and constancy is dead;  
Phoenix and the turtle fled  
In a mutual flam from hence._

_So they loved, as love in twain  
Had the essence but in one;  
Two distances, division none:  
Number there in love was slain._

_Hearts remote, yet not asunder;  
Distance, and no space was seen  
'Twixt the turtle and his queen:  
But in them it were a wonder._

_So between them love did shine,  
That the turtle saw his right  
Flaming in the phoenix' sight;   
Either was the other's mine._

_…_

_"That it cried, How true a twain  
Seemeth this concordant one!  
Love hath reason, reason none,  
It what parts can so remain._

_Whereupon it made this threne  
To the phoenix and the dove  
Co-supremes and stars of love,  
As chorus to their tragic scene."_

_---Shakespeare (The Phoenix and the Turtle)_

"Claudia, put your feet down, on the _floor," Sloan told her, walking into his office to see her feet propped up on his desk._

"Evil," she muttered, doing what he told her. Then, her voice dripping with insincere sweetener, she asked, "So, what did you call me about?"

"I'm transferring you upstairs for a couple months," he answered.

"Why?" she asked, dropping the sweetly.

"Evaluation, you know that," he answered, turning his attention to his computer. 

"That it?" she asked.

"Yes," he told her, not even bothering to look up.

_~*~_

She was at the post office, dropping off a simple letter. The post office was so much better than the box down the street from her apartment, her father had no power there, he'd never get a hold of the letter she was mailing off.

She bought the necessary stamps to send her letter to Spain, and put the white envelope through the slot, sending with it her hope that it would reach its destination soon. As she left, the envelope had already fallen among other envelopes, some the same, some different, but this was the only one with her quick scrawling handwriting in green ink.

_From: Fiona Lawrence  
P.O. Box 977  
Los Angeles, California, USA  
90001-90089_

_To: Andrew Williams_

_P.O. Box__ 14793___

_Madrid__, SP 09642_

_~*~_

Back at SD-6, Sloane was sitting in front of his computer, looking over several files that had been there for quite some time. Vaughn, Michael C. was the first open window, it included only basic information from the DMV, he hadn't bothered to get more information after he'd seen that his daughter was about to marry a CIA boy ("State Department, my ass," he'd thought. "Just a poorly devised cover-up."). 

He moved the mouse and clicked on the window behind it. It was a picture from a security camera in some kind of club with a bar. In the photo, Claudia was sitting not one whole seat away from Sark, her mouth was open, mid-word, and he seemed to be the only one listening to whatever she was saying. He clicked a button in the bottom right-hand corner and the picture started moving. It was a copy of the security camera tape for that night. There wasn't any sound, it would have been pointless with the loud music overpowering everybody talking.

~*~

"Sydney, Dixon, you will be breaking into the Russian Embassy to recover several disks that were taken from Claudia while she was there. We've found that they're being kept on the third floor in a vault in the Russian Embassador's office," Sloane told the two in the briefing room, where Marshall also sat, ready to tell them about his newest gadgets.

~*~

"I'm in," Sydney told Dixon over microphone.

The safe opened, getting to it had been almost too easy. Inside there was absolutely nothing, someone must have been there just before them. Except, no, there was one thing, a business card.

_Too Late,_

_The __Phoenix___

On the back was written an exert from Shakespeare's 'The Phoenix and the Turtle.'

_Truth may seem, but cannot be;_

_Beauty brag, but 'tis not she;_

_Truth and beauty buried be._

~*~

**End A/N:** two days late…I know…I know…I'm very bad…but so are you for not reviewing…all you need to do is write a few words in the little box that comes from clicking the button next to the box that says 'Submit Review.' See how simple it is? Now lets try it people. Having problems with the html…hopefully they're better by the time you get this…


	7. The Phoenix

**Daughter ****of **Darkness****

**Chapter 7: The Phoenix**

**By Gaz Destiny**

**Rated: PG-13**

**Spoiler: Snowman**

**Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. The Phoenix and the Turtle is a poem from Shakespeare, not me, but if anyone knows where I can find him (alive that is), tell me, he has a meeting with my fist in a few days (I have to read Romeo and Juliet in my English class).**

**A/N**: ok, to make up for missing my deadline, I'm actually going to try and get this chapter out _before Monday, how does that sound? Good, I know. Hey guess what, I have this story all planned out, so it shouldn't be that hard to do, but then again, that's what I said about this other story that I'm doing under a different account and I missed my last deadline with an excuse about the final school projects and finals coming up that I'm going through right now. And yes, I was actually reading 'The Antichrist' from Nietzsche, I didn't get to finish it though, cause the library I got it from had to get it from another library and they wanted it back really quickly._

**Feedback: (FINALLY!!!) I want to thank my two reviewers, and here are answers to what you had to say…**

**Firefly: ooh…I'm so glad you decided to read, hmm, did I ever think of including ****Sark****? Yes, yes, I did. Amazingly enough, you've just picked up on one of the major characters that take their time to show up, if you noticed he _was indeed in the last chapter, but that was only the beginning of it. Actually the sequel to this will involve him as one of the main characters (I'm very bad I know, planning a sequel already). more scenes with Sydney and Michael, hmm, let me think, ok, just, since he's kinda engaged right now, it'll have to be as friends…when I finish this story off they might have a chance…we'll see how I do this…_**

**Simone: hey…look I'm updating early…**

_"What is good—everything that increases the feeling of power, the will to power, and power itself, in men. What is evil—everything based in weakness. What is joy—the emotion of power increasing, of a resistance overcome. Not contentedness, but more power!"   --Nietzsche (The Antichrist)_

"Did you find out anything on Phoenix?" Sydney asked Michael, as she walked into their meeting place in the warehouse.

"Not much, very few people know about her, and fewer have even known she's Phoenix when they see her. She goes by the name Fiona Lawrence, not her real name," he answered. "As far as physical appearances go, she's around six foot, rough estimate, and she has flaming red hair, at least that's what everyone who'll talk says. She always wears sunglasses, even inside, likes to wear black with flame designs. The rare time she actually goes out, she's always clinging to Sark, so far she's only been seen once away from him, and that was to go to the bathroom."

Neither of them could keep from laughing a little at this.

"She has a thing for Shakespeare," he added.

"Friar Lawrence from Romeo and Juliet," Sydney said, instantly picking up on the last name. "And that quote on the back of her card, from 'The Phoenix and the Turtle."

"You got it. She's strictly a computer person, every move she's made has had something to do with a computer, Claudia's disks, several computers whipped clean, she's even hacked into the CIA network," he told her. "Copied several of out files."

"What she copy?" she asked.

"The files on SD-6 and the Alliance, the most important stuff, though, hasn't even been uploaded into the computers, someone broke into the place where these files were held, nothing was taken, but there was a sticker of one of those white drama masks over a security camera and an American Greetings thank-you card on the floor with a mix of lines from Shakespeare," he continued. "The lines were a code. The lines were randomly picked from Macbeth. The numbers of the lines were the numbers of an alliance member's IP address. She's left us a number of other things, clues, little things, all of them helping us get closer to getting the Alliance."

"So she's helping us?" Sydney asked, unsure what exactly to think, an enemy was working as an ally.

"Pretty much, just not working with us," he answered.

~*~

"Hi, sweetie, how was your day?" Michael asked, walking into the kitchen of Claudia's apartment, where she was sitting, staring into space, coffee in hand.

She didn't answer, just kept staring out the window over the sink.

"Claudia," he said again, tapping her lightly on the shoulder.

"Huh? What?" she mumbled, coming back to reality with a sudden pull.

"Are you feeling ok?" he asked, concerned with the fact that she _did_ look sick.

"I'm just tired," she answered, trying to brush it off as nothing.

"Come on," he said, helping her out of her chair, noting how light she felt.

"Where?" she asked, her senses suddenly much too in touch with reality, as she let him lead her down the hall to her room.

"You need more sleep," he told her, helping her into bed.

~*~

End A/N: unfortunately I have a report due Monday, so this will have to do till sometime during the week when I'll try and update again.


	8. Truth Sucks

**Daughter ****of **Darkness****

**Chapter 8: Truth Sucks**

**By Gaz Destiny**

**Rated: PG-13**

**Spoiler: Snowman**

**Disclaimer: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. **

**A/N**: um…the quote at the beginning of this chapter is a poem by Ashlee Ramirez, she's a high school student in Texas. I actually went to middle school with her up here in Maine till she moved near the end of the eighth grade year. I was never technically friends with her, though I did work with her on a bunch of projects, so um, that's my small claim to fame…oh, wait, no, I have another one, my godsister's friends older sister was an extra in titanic, her character died.

**Feedback: (ONE MORE REVIEW!!!) I want to thank my one reviewer, and here is my little response bit:**

**Firefly: thanks for continuing to review, I'm glad someone takes the time to leave a review. About leaving out the whole ****Sydney**** finding out that Claudia has to know Michael I hope the little bit I have in this chapter helps. Yes, I do have this story planned out pretty much, and it's not going to go on _that much longer, I'm hoping to get the ending I have done as soon as I've set up the little bit of plot I've got going, this in a way is probably going to end up as a prequel to whatever else I have going._**

_It's strange how some people think one person is one way  
When they don't even know the person or know that person's day  
  
Take me for example what do you think  
The one thing you don't know is my life it stinks  
  
I'm harassed and accused of on a daily basis  
By those who I love all I can do is face this  
  
They hit me they yell they holler they scream  
I still have no clue as to why they choose me  
  
It's just like I'm a target for all of their pain  
When something goes wrong I'm the only one sane  
  
But even through this I try to keep quiet  
I try not to cry so I don't start a riot  
  
Even still after this I still help them out  
By not telling anyone how they kick and they shout  
  
To do this I chose to make my life a lie  
So you couldn't see all my tears and my cries  
  
But now I'm afraid that they've gone way too far  
Now I'll tell everyone I'll tell one and all  
  
No secrets no lies just the plain basic truth  
In my house there lives all sorts of abuse_

**_--Ashlee Ramirez(The Truth)_**__

She reached for the counter as she leaned towards the toilet again. Her hand hit the ceramic soap dispenser, knocking it to the floor with a loud crash as it broke, though she didn't notice as she threw-up.

"Claudia is everything—" Michael started, trailing off when he'd gotten into the bathroom in time to see her lean towards the toilet again.

~*~

Two months had gone by since she'd gotten back. She'd been working in the bank part of Credit Duphane the whole time in Arvin's place as the executive bank president, and there'd been no news of her getting moved back downstairs. She and Sydney had met in the new CIA operations center and revealed that they were indeed both double agents. 

~*~

_"So you're the other person in SD-6," Claudia said, plastering on a smile, more for the fact that she was tired than that she was uncomfortable or being insincere._

_"Yeah," __Sydney__ nodded. "I was kind of wondering how you met Vaughn."_

_"Oh, yeah, Eric's my handler, and he worked with us on several things, it was inevitable," Claudia answered. "We used to have a law class together, so we could easily have met through that, that's the story we're using. I borrowed notes from him, yadda yadda yadda. Actually, if I remember correctly, you were trying to get me to go out with him or something the next day, we were hanging out at that club we used to hang out at all the time."_

_"I _just_ remember that," __Sydney__ said, before they shared a small laugh at the irony._

_"Do you have any idea why we're here?" Claudia asked, after a minute._

_"Not a clue."_

~*~

While Claudia was getting used to a _normal life, Sloane was doing some research; he wished he'd done sooner._

Not even three months after she'd gone to London, Claudia and several of the secretaries at the embassy had gone out to party hour at a local bar. There, after several drinks, they had been joined by Sark and several other gentlemen. The three women she was with seemed to know Sark and his three companions, welcoming them to the table as if they were all old friends. This continued to happen several times a week for much of the time that she was there.

Claudia knew about Sark, Sloane knew this having told her himself, yet she had 'accidentally' forgotten to include in her report that she had met with Sark on such numerous occasions. 

After being in London for nine months and six months of meeting Sark and the three other men with the other secretaries at happy hour, she started meeting Sark alone. They'd always meet at different clubs and restaurants, never the same one in a row. There would be periods where they didn't meet; these were times when SD-6 had traced Sark doing other things.

Then, Phoenix made her appearance on the scene. She appeared only a few times, silent on Sark's arm, acting as a witness to his largest deals. Claudia was never around on the occasions when Phoenix was seen with Sark in London.

~*~

"Morning," Claudia said cheerfully, walking into the sunny kitchen, still dressed in a dark blue blouse and black pants.

"Morning, how are you feeling?" Michael asked, it'd been several days since she'd smashed the soap dispenser and she'd been sick everyone of them.

"Better, I've got a doctors appointment this afternoon," she answered, sitting at the table, coffee in hand.

"You don't think you might be…" he started to ask, trailing off as she obviously picked up on what he was thinking.

"No! No, I-I can't be, it's-it's not—no," she said shaking her head. "Not now, everything's just starting to fall into place. It—no."

"What if—" he started to say.

"No," she said cutting him off with a shake of her head.

"We have to talk about this sometime," he said after a minute.

"I know," she nodded, closing her eyes for a second. Then, opening them, she asked, "Do you want…"

"Someday, yeah, kids are great, just not now," he answered. "Do you?"

"Yeah, of course, just, now obviously isn't a good time, we're not even…"

"Right."

"Right."

The rest of breakfast was eaten in silence, occasionally broken as they tried unsuccessfully to start up another conversation.

~*~

The next few days passed with them trying to avoid going back to that topic as she waited for the doctor to call her back about several tests that had been done.

~*~

"Hello," she said picking up the phone, pausing in the middle of breaking up lettuce for that night's salad.

"Miss Sloane," a crisp voice said. "I'm Doctor Fell, I'm calling for Doctor Marks, he had to go out of town."

"Ok," she said, what else was there to say.

"Your test results came back, you had the flu that's going around," he told her.

"Thank you," she said before hanging up.

She went back to making the salad while a pot roast (one of her mother's recipes) cooked in the oven. By the time she'd finished, Michael was already there, helping her by setting the kitchen table.

"It was just the flu," she told him, a while later, halfway through dinner.

"Hmm?" he stopped cutting a slice of potato.

"The doctor called, I just had the flu," she said.

"Oh," he replied.

~*~

End A/N: bad place to end I know, but when you start something like that, you kinda gotta finish it off, and if I kept going with the next part, I'd never get it up by the time I got home (I'm writing this during Chorus on my laptop…we already had our final concert so we're just sitting around doing nothing for eighty minutes)…please remember I LIKE REVIEWS!!!


	9. Author's Note Finals This Week

Excuse for not posting

Finals are this week, so I'm pretty much spending this week studying and can't post. It's not like it matters when I post cause it doesn't look like anyone actually cares, nobody even bothers to leave a review if they read, even though I doubt anyone even reads this.

Lily M. (Gaz Destiny a.k.a. one pissed of sleepy bitch)


	10. Switching Planes

**Daughter of Darkness**

**Chapter 9: Switching Planes**

**By **Gaz Destiny****

**Rated: **PG-13****

**Spoiler: **Snowman****

**Disclaimer: **the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. I don't own the Goo Goo Dolls song coming up later.

**A/N**: summer sucks, sorry this took so long to get out….

**Feedback: *mumbling* nobody even reviewed...evil...**

_Baby's black balloon makes her fly_

_I almost fell into that hole in your life_

_And you're not thinking about tomorrow_

_'Cause you were the same as me_

_But on your knees_

_A thousand other boys could never reach you_

_How could I have been the one_

_I saw the world spin beneath you_

_And scatter like ice from the spoon_

_That was your womb_

_--Goo Goo Dolls (Black Balloon)_

Monday

**_Sloan 911_**

"This is Fiona Lawrence," Sloane told Sydney and Dixon in the conference room, hitting a button on a small remote to bring up a black and white picture of a woman with her hair wrapped in a scarf and a pair of dark sunglasses on, along with a business suit, carrying a briefcase as she took a step down the front staircase of a Swiss bank. "We have reason to believe that she will be joining Sark for his deal in Madrid this coming Saturday night.

"Saturday night, Sark is meeting up with Henry Stratford at the Starlight club, which Stratford is said to frequent, Sark will be buying a Rambaldi artifact that Stratford has," Sloane continued. "You're job is to go in, and find out what the deal is about, surveillance only. Find out when and where this item will be picked up, and who will be picking it up."

Tuesday

"Hey, I was thinking we could go to Santa Monica for the weekend," Michael said over dinner that night.

"That sounds great," she smiled, putting down her fork. Then, her smile fading instantly, she said, "I can't go, not this weekend, I have to be in Zürich or this deal that will expand the bank. Since dad's got me running the bank, I have to do things that benefit the bank, no matter how they much they tend to benefit SD-6. I'm sorry."

"When are you leaving?" he asked.

"Friday evening, I won't be able to get back till Wednesday. You have a key, you can come hang out here while I'm gone if you want," she told him, picking up her fork as she started eating again.

Wednesday

"SD-6 is sending me to Madrid this Saturday; I'm supposed to observe Sark and Fiona Lawrence making a deal with Henry Stratford," Sydney told Michael in the warehouse that week, before going on to explain the plan that had been made with Dixon.

Thursday

"Here, I've been waiting all week to give these to you, but there didn't seem to be a good time," Claudia said handing Michael an envelope after dinner.

"These are-" he started to say, looking at the two tickets he'd taken out of the envelope. "These are the tickets I wanted."

"Yep," she nodded.

"They're sold out," he said.

"Uh-huh," she nodded again.

"Where did you get these?"

"I called in a few favors."

Friday

"I'll miss you," Claudia smiled, giving Michael a quick kiss. "See you Wednesday."

"Bye," he smiled back, waving a little bit as she headed through the security area.

~*~

"We are currently flying over Madrid, the weather is clear and we will be landing on schedule," one of the flight attendants said over the loudspeakers.

Claudia reached into her bag and pulled out a black felt had with a rim. Slipping her hand under her hair, she pulled it up into a bun on top of her head, quickly pulling the hat on over it. Donning a pair of sunglasses and black business suit with matching spiked heels, she closed her book and put it away in her oversized black leather laptop bag.

Having boarded the plane to head for Zürich, she took advantage of the fact that the Madrid flight stopped in DC just after the Zürich flight did, and bought a ticket from DC to Madrid.

"Please put your seats and trays in their upright positions and remained buckled until the buckle-seat light is turned off," another flight attendant told the passengers over the intercom.

~*~

"Sydney," Dixon said nudging Sydney lightly, as they walked out of the secure area of Madrid's airport. 

There was Sark greeting a woman in a black hat and business suit, who had come out with the group from L.A. It was Fiona. He quickly took her bag from her and they started walking towards the baggage claim.

TBC…

**A/N:** hope you liked that, there are only two or three chapters left. I've finally figured out how to finish this and be able to get my sequel to work.

Gazzy D.


	11. Coming Clean

**Daughter of Darkness**

**Chapter 10: Nightclub Deals**

**By **Gaz Destiny****

**Rated: **PG-13****

**Spoiler: **Snowman****

**Disclaimer: **the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. I don't own the Goo Goo Dolls song coming up later.

**A/N**: summer still sucks, and I still don't have a job, damn I'm pathetic, hey at least I'm only a sophomore and have an excuse….Andrew is not Sark's first name, but for the sake of my story it is.

**Feedback: Hey look this is an extra long chapter around nine pages, and only one review…you people not reading should be very happy with me…**

**Quotes of the update: **

**_Everyone is unique, just like everybody else._**

**_Happiness is found in the frozen food section, where they keep the ice-cream._**

**_--Emily (the girl who plays the girl from Everwood)_**

Saturday Morning

"How was your flight, Fi?" Sark asked as they walked out of the airport.

"It was good, long, but good," she answered. "Have you had a chance to think about what I asked you?"

"Of course, it's risky, I must say that," he nodded, opening the passenger side door of his expensive car for her.

_Do you listen to yourself?_

_Never live for someone else_

_Do you like the way you feel_

_Nothing hurts when no one's real_

_She wants to shake this scene_

_Yeah she wants to shake with me_

_She's not looking for the holes in all the lies_

"Please, I need you to do this for me," she told him, once he'd gotten in.

_*I wanna bullet proof your soul_

_Would you like to lose control_

_I won't let you fall until you tell me so*_

"Do you love him?" he asked, glancing at the star shaped diamond ring she was wearing.

_*What are we?_

_(Watcha wanna be)_

_Everything!_

_That you wanna be_

_All I need_

_(Right in front of me)_

_I've known before_

_*Would you come my way_

_Or did you burn out to the end_

_Would you come my way_

_Should have listened when you called my name*_

"Oh, I forgot to take my ring off," she laughed, looking at the stone with a melancholy smile, as she took it off and slipped it into her purse.

"Do you love him?" Sark asked again, maneuvering the car out of the airport driveway.__

_*Yeah she wants to tear you down_

_And she leaves without a sound_

_It's like fallin' backwards_

_Into no one's arms*_

"I did," she answered simply.

_*You're a bullet through my soul_

_But I'll never let you know_

_I won't let you fall until you let it go_

_*What are we?_

_(Watcha wanna be)_

_Everything!_

_That you wanna be_

_All I need_

_(Right in front of me)_

_I've known before_

_*Would you come my way_

_Or did you burn out to the end_

_Would you come my way_

_Should have listened when you called my name*_

"So?" he asked just as simply, knowing she had more to say but didn't want to say it.

"So what?" she all but snapped. "So is everything pretty much set up? I was thinking that I could pick up the artifact, I'm a little less conspicuous than you."

"Alright," he nodded in agreement. Then after a pause, "Maybe you shouldn't have come tonight if that's what you were planning."

"No, we'll just pick a different place, it really isn't that smart to use the same place both times anyways," she told him.

"Sounds good," he said, not even bothering her a glance.

"Look, I'm sorry," she whispered, reaching a hand out, placing it on his arm.

"It's alright," he told her, placing a hand on her leg with a gentle squeeze.

_*Would you come my way_

_Or did you burn out to the end_

_Would you come my way_

_Should have listened when you called my name_

_Should have listened when you called my name_

_Should have listened when you called my name_

_Should have listened when you called my name_

_Should have listened when you called my name*_

"Soon it'll be all over, at least for me, and then all we'll have to worry about is you," she smiled, throwing in a small laugh.

"I'll take care of that, it'll be simple enough," he said, driving the car off the highway. "I've already been working on a plan."

"Sydney and Dixon saw me meet you at the airport, they'll be there tonight," she told him. "That'll make it perfect for what I was thinking to work sooner than later."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"When I go pick up the artifact, we have to make sure SD-6 knows when and where, I'll explain the rest later, after I've figured it out," she laughed, as the car became darkened from the cover of the parking garage they'd pulled into.

~*~

Saturday Afternoon

He watched her, watched her doze, the beads of sweat roll down her skin. The feel of her warm breath on his chest, soft and gentle, it was a nice feeling. He reached out and carefully brushed her hair off her face. 

"We have to go soon," she mumbled, lazily opening one eye.

"I know," he whispered, letting one arm wrap around her loosely, as her fingers ran languidly up and down his bare chest.

"The Saturday after next," she told him suddenly.

"What about it?" he asked, looking down into her eyes.

"That's when we should plan to meet for the pickup," she answered. "I want out as soon as possible."

"Then how about next Saturday?" he suggested.

"I can't, I have plans," she replied, before going back to slowly running her fingers up and down his chest.

They were silent for a moment, a silent acknowledgement of who her plans were with took place, along with a silent agreement not to say anything aloud, her out of her consideration of his distaste for the idea that she was indeed engaged to someone else, and him out of his distaste for the guy she was engaged to.

"We should get up," she said finally.

"We have time," he told her, catching her lips with his in a soft, quick, kiss, which she didn't let him get out of as quick as he had planned.

They continued kissing, long passionate kisses, sometimes soft and gentle, other times hard and filled with desire, and then she did the unthinkable.

"Promise me something," she said suddenly, pulling out of one of those wonderful kisses where he was ravishing her mouth.

"What?" he asked, looking into her eyes.

"That you won't—you know what? Never mind," she said, suddenly going through a drastic attitude change.

"Tell me," he told her, turning her head to face him, his hand under her chin, seeking her eyes with his.

"No—I said never mind, it's totally unimportant," she said, looking away as she found a particular string in the blanket covering them completely fascinating.

"Of course it is?" he practically growled, rolling his eyes.

"Hey, you don't have to be so annoying about it," she pretended to pout.

He gave her a determined look, and she sighed in defeat.

"I wanted you to promise you won't leave me," she finally told him, looking down at the blanket, "and that you'll get out soon."

"Hmm?" he asked, the look on his face forcing her to battle with her inner-self not to laugh.

It was funny, the look of confusion on his face. One—well two—simple questions confused a genius, after that thought, she failed and started giggling uncontrollably, but then stopping to think about what she'd made him promise her instantly stopped the giggles and go serious again.

"Promise me you won't leave me," she said, giving him the sad puppy eyes.

"That would never happen," he told her, kissing her again.

"Promise," she whispered between kisses.

"Promise."

~*~

Saturday Evening

She sat on the edge of the bed pulling on her sandals, struggling for a moment with the annoying complicated straps.

"Are you almost ready?" Sark asked walking out of the bathroom, with only his pants on, as he toweled his hair dry.

"Farther along than you are," she told him, before going into the closet to find a dress. Coming out with a skimpy backless red dress, she said, "I knew I left this here, I've been looking for it for months."

She quickly pulled the dress on over her head and turned her back towards him.

"Could you tie this up?" she asked, closing her eyes as his fingers brushed lightly over her back while he fixed the ribbons crisscrossing her back and tied the ribbon into a bow just over her lower back. "Thanks."

"Are you ready?" he asked a few minutes later.

"Where are my sunglasses?" she asked slightly frantic.

"On the table," he said pointing to the expensive Armani glasses.

"Okay, I'm ready," she smiled, putting on her sunglasses after pulling her hair up under her black felt hat.

~*~

Saturday Night

"They're here," Dixon whispered into his microphone from his vantage point near the door.

"I see them," Sydney whispered back from her seat at the bar.

 Sark had just walked in with his arm around Fi's waist, just in time to be instantly greeted by Henry Stratford and his wife, Diane. They all sat down and started talking. Fiona and Diane started talking about else in their social circle, blocking out whatever the guys were saying.

"Did you hear about what happened between Audrey and Louis?" Diane asked, slipping right into gossipy housewife mode.

"No, do tell," Fi replied, going right into the same mode, knowing that the two of them talking blocked out everything Sark and Stratford were talking about.

"Thursday, Louis caught her in the pool house with her tennis pro, word is he's already filing for divorce, of course you didn't hear it from me," Diane told her.

"Of course, but it's not like I feel sorry for her, I mean really, she's been so unfaithful, poor Louis, having to deal with that, I wouldn't be surprised if he already knew," Fi said.

"I'll have it to you in two weeks, but I have to go to Moscow to pick it up first," Henry was saying.

"I could pick it up, I have to be in Moscow that weekend anyways," Fi offered turning her attention away from Diane.

They agreed on that and planned when and where she'd pick up the case with Sark's purchase in it, with SD-6 and the CIA both listening in.

~*~

Monday Morning

As Claudia wheeled her suitcase out of the airport to the spot to meet taxis, she was happy to find that a taxi pulled up just as she got to the curb. She put her small suitcase in the back with her, and the taxi pulled away almost the instant she closed the door.

"Zürich bank please," she told the driver.

Something wasn't right, she knew how to get to the bank from the airport, and wherever they were going wasn't it. They suddenly pulled off the main road and into the parking lot of an abandoned warehouse. Her hand instantly sought out the handgun tucked away in her suitcase, which she'd had to have special papers from the CIA to carry in her checked bag; luckily she didn't have to get a new paper each time.

The driver turned around, holding a gun in his hand, she quickly noted the bullet proof glass and readied herself in case he started to open it.

"Claudia, let go of the gun," the driver said, removing a skin like mask.

"Dad," she frowned. He had his gun aimed at her, and she had her own aimed at him, it would have been funny under different circumstances, "What's going on?"

"Shouldn't you have already been at your hotel?" he questioned, looking quite stern. "You were in Madrid, weren't you?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded, finding no point in lying to someone who can tell when you're lying.

"You're working for Sark," he said rather than asked.

"No, not exactly, I'm working _with him," she corrected. "Well, not even that really. I do a couple jobs here and there, but nothing really. Like those disks, I just never handed over, I had them, I just didn't hand them over and left a card in the safe for when you figured out what you thought would be where they were hidden. I've just done tiny, insignificant things."_

"Why?" he asked simply.

"Because, you were right about me having this kind of job, and now I want out," she answered just as simply. "But then again, I'm glad I've done what I've done, even if you and the rest of SD-6 are complete and total evil."

"When did you finally realize this?" he asked.

"Um, while I was in London, but I wasn't positive until after I got back," she told him.

"What made you change your mind?" he asked, falling into the 'worried father inquisition' preformed by fathers all the way back to fathers hundreds of generations before him.

"I'm pregnant," she answered, looking downwards.

He wasn't sure what to say, what does a father say when he finds out his daughter is unmarried and pregnant, nothing, absolutely nothing. She was too old to yell at, but still young to have a kid.

"Michael doesn't know, and he won't, unless you tell him, 'cause there's pretty much no chance the other people who know will tell him," she continued, still looking away.

"Are you perfectly sure they won't tell?" he asked, wanting to make sure she knew what she was going on about.

"Perfectly, there are only two other people, ones a doctor in Lisbon, and the other is Sark," she answered.

"Sark," he repeated disbelievingly.

"Uh-huh, that's why he's helping me get out, in a couple weeks I'll be another Missing-and-Supposed-to-be-Dead person, last seen unmoving with blood pouring from a gunshot wound, taken by a nondescript man in a nondescript white van, which was followed into a parking garage full of white vans," she told him. "I planned it carefully; everyone works right off of the other. It's foolproof, except of course when _someone_ knows I'm Fiona, but even then it's pretty much failsafe unless someone goes to the news and tells the general populous, then it kind of ruins everything."

"You were just going to let your mother and I think you were dead?" he inquired, keeping his anger out of his tone.

"Yeah," she nodded, without the slightest problem. "I mean it's not like I could come up to the two of you and say, 'Mom, Dad, I'm going to fake my death to protect my unborn child, who is also the child of Mr. Sark one of the criminal geniuses I'm supposed to be working against every day, so don't worry about me, I'll be perfectly fine.' How was I supposed to say that? Really? Sometimes I start to worry about you."

"And here I thought it was me who had to worry about you," he smiled softly, before going back into his serious manner, and asking, "So Sark's the father? Do you even know his first name?"

"Yes on both counts, and his first name's Andrew," she answered, not even missing a beat. "Hey, could you do me a favor and back off, leave him alone? Once I'm out, he's going to start working on a way out. I need him alive, if I'm going to—"

"Going to what?" he asked, after she'd suddenly stopped.

"He promised me he'd protect me, and he very well can't do that if he's dead, now can he?" she laughed lightly.

Arvin Sloane was not a happy person at that moment, no parent in their right mind would be, but he wasn't angry, she was doing just what he wanted her to do, getting out, getting away from the life he didn't want for his only child.

~*~

Thursday

"Oh, I missed you," Claudia smiled, wrapping her arms around Michael's neck. "I'm so sorry I couldn't get back yesterday. Things took longer than I expected."

"I missed you to," Michael said, hugging her back.

He kissed her, it was quick and sweet, but no spark, she wondered briefly as he lead her to the baggage claim if he noticed it. 

"Dad and I had a nice talk Monday," she told him in the car on the way back to her apartment. "It was weird on the nice level."

"That's nice, what'd you talk about?" he asked.

"We talked about life, about how everything's changed over the years. It was the needed conversation between a parent and their grown child," she answered. "He says he likes you, just doesn't like your job, most people don't want their kids to marry a guy who works for the government, neither does he, I think he said it was something about the pay and low chance of moving up, I'm not sure, that's about when I started getting dizzy from sitting in a taxi for too long."

~*~

God, I'm such an idiot. I spend a month trying to figure out if Michael will still want me when I got back, and here I am about to do something that'll break his heart. But then again, I didn't plan on it, I didn't know for sure until after I arrived home. The news didn't come until then, I guess I probably waited till to late to find out.

After the hockey game he'd wanted to see so much on Friday, he drove us to Santa Barbra, and surprised me with a weekend to make up for missing the other weekend.

Wednesday Eric had me called down to meet him. They needed me to help them get the box, Sydney couldn't just hand it over after picking it up, that would make SD-6 suspicious, especially after they're elaborate plan. Okay, it wasn't actually elaborate, it was just something Dad and I had come up in the while we were sitting in the Taxi talking. It would work though, as long as I filled Sark in on it and had him make sure the guard let Sydney through before I came. Dad wasn't too happy that he wouldn't be getting the artifact, until I told him it wasn't actually a Rambaldi artifact, but some really expensive jewelry set Andrew (Sark) was buying.

The plan itself was kind of stupid, but so was everything else. Saturday night at precisely ten o'clock, Fiona was supposed to walk directly through an art gallery in Moscow to the main office, where she (I) was supposed to pick up a silver case. Ten minutes earlier, Sydney is supposed to go in, in some disguise that's supposed to look like me (Fiona, this is starting to confuse me, so I hope you're keeping up). At that exact moment, the power will be cut and a fight will break out across the room (courtesy of Dixon and several other agents), giving Sydney easy access to the main office, which will still have it's power, since it's attached to a backup generator because they tend to keep the more expensive things in there. Yes, I already know all about this club, it was one of the things Andrew and I went over in great detail before I flew to Zürich.

At this time I'll be in one of the CIA vehicles dressed as Fiona (myself, even though everyone else doesn't know that). With five minutes till ten, I'll walk in. By then the lights will have come back on, and the guard should already be back in place. The guard will let me right in, having been told ahead of time that I'll be arriving five till ten rather than at ten. I'd stop Sydney and make her hand over the case. From there she would go back to Dixon and tell him what happened from her point of view (i.e. Fiona came in and stopped her) and I would take the case back to the CIA vehicle, where Michael and the other CIA agents would be waiting for me.

It was such a stupid plan, and so obviously not fool-proof, but it was also such a simple plan that something couldn't easily go wrong. That fact would be enough to distract people away from how stupid it was until everything else had gone in affect. I planned on following it exactly, every little bit, yep, okay, so I was exactly planning anything. But like I said, things could go wrong so easily.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

TBC….

~*~*~*~

A/N: looking for some reviews, I wrote ten pages and would like to know what people think, as long as it's not pure flame, need to have constructive criticism if you want me to take you seriously, unless it's something good about my story, then I could listen all day. ^_^


	12. Single Shot

**Daughter of Darkness**

**Chapter 11: Single Shot**

**By** Gaz Destiny

**Rated**: PG-13

**Spoiler**: Snowman

**Disclaimer**: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. The song played in this, yes I know they played it the episode of Dixon's wife's funeral, but have you actually listened to the song, it's perfect for the scene.

**A/N: hey look, it's the final chapter, if you're lucky I'll do an epilogue, oh who am I kidding, I'm probably going to do one anyways, I pretty much have to to make my sequel work.**

**Feedback: what was I thinking, of course no one left any feedback.**

_Time is of the essence; let's go shopping._

_--Me_

"Are you ready?" Michael asked, as Claudia once again straightened her silk pants, before putting on a pair of sunglasses that looked exactly like Fiona's.

"As ready as I'm going to be," she smiled, as the car started moving towards the gallery.

~*~

"I'm in," Sydney told Dixon, popping open the safe door in the gallery's main office.

"Phoenix just walked in," he told her, as Claudia, disguised as Fiona, walked through the door.

"Claudia's on her way," Michael told her over another microphone.

~*~

When she got to the hall where the main office was, the guard just nodded and stepped out of the way. Her heels clicked against the linoleum floor; suddenly she felt the familiar vibration of her pager on her belt.

**_Ready._**

_Good_, she thought, slipping her hand into her jacket pocket, the accustomed feel of her small handgun.

~*~

"Get out of there, she's coming in early," Dixon warned Sydney.

~*~

"I'm in," Claudia told Michael and Eric through the microphone in her jewel studded necklace, which also hid a tiny camera.

She walked into the all metal room; Sydney was till standing right in front of the desk.

"Don't move," she said, putting the gun right at the back of Sydney's head, everything was going according to plan. "Put down the box, and go, _now."_

Sydney did her part of the plan and did exactly as Claudia had said. All she had to do was meet up with Dixon and explain the altered version of what happened.

Now it was Claudia's turn to move into action. She placed her gun back into her pocket, grabbed the handle of the case, and left, giving a quick nod to the guard on her way out. She walked out of the gallery without incident, everything was going smoothly. It wasn't until she was less than ten yards from the CIA vehicle that problems started.

A black van pulled up in front of her. She had her gun locked and ready before the door even opened, but so did Sark sitting inside. He jumped out, gun still aimed.

Without saying anything, he went for the case, she moved it away from him, while at the same time hitting him with a roundhouse.

~*~

The CIA team watched through the camera in her necklace, they could see that the guns had fallen to the ground.

Sark's hand reached out and grabbed her necklace as she fell backwards. It snapped right off and he threw it aside, breaking the lens as it came in contact with the hard ground.

"Move out," someone commanded over the radio that connected the CIA's surveillance van, the car Claudia was supposed to be in at that very moment, and a van which had several more people.

It was so obvious that something had to happen that they'd brought in extra backup. Everyone had piled out, but before anybody got anywhere near her, a gun went off.

~*~

That very minute, Sydney was walking out of the gallery door, alone, Dixon had gone out another door.

Oh the ground she saw Claudia, a pool of blood forming around her. Before Sydney could react, two men jumped out of the van and grabbed Claudia's lifeless body as Sark grabbed the metal case.

Later, she found out that the CIA had followed the van, but lost it in a parking garage. Only to find it later, completely empty, with a blood stained carpet.

~*~

The story Sydney had told Sloane went along the lines of _almost_ what she told Dixon.

She'd been in the office, grabbing the artifact. Fiona had come in, at least she'd thought it was Fiona, she hadn't gotten a good look at her. She handed over the artifact and then got out of there. Later when she came out of the club, Fiona was lying dead on the ground. She could see her face though, and it wasn't Fiona, but Claudia. Sark and his men grabbed the body and the artifact.

Sloane listened to this, and as far as she knew, believed her, he didn't have any reason not to. The way the plan had been carried out; there was nothing to implicate her in anything. Only Claudia in double-crossing SD-6, but he didn't seem to care about that.

~*~

_Do not stand at my grave and weep_

_I am not there I do not sleep_

_I am a thousand winds that flow_

_I am the sunlight on ripened grape_

It was a sunny day, blue skies and fluffy white clouds. That only served to bug Michael as he drove to the cemetery.

_I a gentle autumn's rain_

_I am the swift uplifting rush_

_Of quiet birds_

_In circled flight_

Two lone people stood off to the side, in front of a large stone. Neither of the two paid it any attention, but watched the small group dressed in black gathered around a smaller stone.

_Do not stand at my grave and cry_

_Do not stand at my grave and cry_

_Do not stand at my grave and cry_

_I am not there…I did not die_

~*~

**A/N: I know this was short, but I'm working on an Epilogue right now, and a sequel, hopefully I'll have the sequel out when the Epilogue gets out. **


	13. Epilogue

**Daughter of Darkness**

**Epilogue**

**By** Gaz Destiny

**Rated**: PG-13

**Spoiler**: Snowman

**Disclaimer**: the show and its respective characters (except for Claudia and my ingenious plot) were created by J. J. Abrams and are owned by ABC. The song played in this, yes I know they played it the episode of Dixon's wife's funeral, but have you actually listened to the song, it's perfect for the scene.

**A/N: hey look, it's the final chapter, if you're lucky I'll do an epilogue, oh who am I kidding, I'm probably going to do one anyways, I pretty much have to to make my sequel work.**

**Feedback: as far as I know, no feed back.**

_I am the Voice inside your Head and the Eyes in your Radio_

_--Unknown_

Two years had passed since her death. Fiona had disappeared entirely barely a month after her death, and Sark seemed to be doing the same. It was a thorn in Michael Vaughn's side, at first he'd used her to track Sark, whose movements otherwise had become untraceable since Sloane stopped going after him. 

Rome, she loved Rome, that's where Michael was, walking down the street of a market place. The CIA had picked up something on Sark and was after him with the CIA, but that was over for the day.

"How do peaches sound, little Katie-belle?" a woman cooed in English, with a definitely American accent.

"Um-um," an infant's voice responded happily.

"That's what I thought," the woman laughed, before asking the man at the stall for a dozen of the fresh peaches. "Jenny, could you get them and put them in the stroller?"

"Yes, Miss," a woman with an English accent answered.

Out of curiosity he looked over. A tall, extremely thin woman held a baby who couldn't be any more than a year old. She had chin length black hair and wore a pair of sunglasses covering her eyes, though she was looking away from him. The baby had short sandy blond hair and blue eyes; she looked at him, wearing a dazzling smile. Both were being followed by a stout woman with mousey brown hair, who was pushing a stroller.

"Jenny," the woman said, turning back towards the stout woman, giving him a clear view of her face, he no longer heard what she said.

Her face had been changed, but he still knew who it was, Fiona. She reached into the stroller, a platinum ring glinting on her ring finger.

~*~

A/N: having fun, sequel to be out soon, maybe tomorrow, or the day after.


End file.
